Warmth
by Ambitious Rookie
Summary: Smells they once knew, sounds they once forgot, the sensation of something warm about to burst out, the discovery of something neither of them understands. A story buried deep in their souls, passed through the years, waiting for them to meet again.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

"Mm..." The little man let out while reading a big wornout book still in his hands. The book looked ancient, just like the man itself or maybe even more ancient. No, surely the book talked about something that had happened many decades before he was even born, well, if it had actually happened.

The little man continued to read through the short stories writen inside. Each of them had it's quote of fantasy, for the ancient world was a very adventurous and dangerous one, full of strange creatures, as well as foolish humans.

Suddenly he chuckled while reading Magnolia's story. To be remembered for not being adventurous in the very least and trying to keep the world outside it's village's door with a rock wall, was completely different to the way it was now. Magnolia had continued to be a productive village but it had turned to being a town. It's rock wall had been completely demolished, not leaving any trace of it, and many mages were now living there for the guild they belong to; Fairy Tail.

Once again, the short man chuckled to himself when finishing the story and closing the book, but this time it had a certain degree of sadness and nostalgia while thinking about the two main characters that had made him remember certain "son" and "daughter" of his guild.

Jumping off his seat and sighting once before letting a happy smile appear on his face, the short man left the room he had been confining himself in, to the ruccus and rummage of Fairy Tail's hall. He had been in his office all day but he hadn't been able to completely ignore the noise coming from outside it, after all, Fairy Tail was known for being really noisy and happy.

"Master!" a woman's voice called for him while he descended the big stairs, almost hopping down them. "Good afternoon," she finished.

"Good afternoon Erza," Makarov replied while smiling at the red long haired woman in armour.

He then walked straight to the bar while others saluted him just like Erza had. "Good afternoon!" he shouted to the whole guild from his seat in the bar, to what everyone replied happily.

"What would you like to drink, master?" a silver haired young woman asked him from the other side of the bar table.

"One beer would be nice, please" he smiled back at her while thinking Mirajane was more beautiful everyday and he wasn't going to miss her wedding when the day came because she would look dassling and he had to take care of her "daughter" not getting attacked neither by her future husband nor by other men present.

"Good afternoon..." the blonde girl he had thought of minutes ago with the book said from her seat next to him in the bar. She looked tired and Makarov knew the reason. He could feel the sadness in her eyes even when she was pulling a small gentle smile.

"Good afternoon Lucy, how are you doing?" He asked gently looking at her and grabbing the beer Mirajane had poured for him but without drinking it yet.

"I'm fine" She said sincerely, "Better than yesterday and worse than tomorrow. Soon I will really be fine, so don't worry." A big grin formed on her face, proud that she was adapting to the situation this well; she didn't hate Lisanna and she didn't hate Natsu, even better, she still loved him. Even thought that was what made her hurt and she wanted to change it, truth is she had already surrendered to her feelings and was loving him in secret and accepting he loves someone else. She couldn't help it, after all... "I'm happy that he is happy. That's all that matters. He makes me happy." She smiled lovingly with a little blush on her cheeks while looking in his direction. She didn't notice he looked at her just at that precise moment. "He deserves to be happy," she finished, once again looking at Makarov and both of them smiling wholeheartedly.

Makarov looked down to his beer, then suddenly lifted it and drank the whole thing before shouting "I'M SO GLAD!" to what Lucy laughed shily.

Natsu looked at the scene. Since some days ago Lucy hadn't been talking much to him. She somehow looked depressed and wouldn't tell him why. She would just smile sadly when he asked, making his heart sting as if daggers were stabbing him. He was worried to death her smile would faintly disappear without him being able to stop it.

A small pale hand delicately rested itself on his arm and he turned to find the shiny blue eyes he loved.

"Natsu, are you alright? You look sad and worried," Lisanna pointed out while staring at him. She was also worried for her boyfriend's well-being.

Natsu smiled, wrapping his arms around her in a tight tender hug. "I'm fine, just a bit worried 'bout Luce, but it's alright..." he said. It wasn't true. He wasn't fine. He was damn worried and desperate to know waht was happening to her. He wanted to know. He wanted to help her. Erza, Gray and Levi seemed to know why she was so sad but they wouldn't tell him. Erza would stare at him sadly and walk away when he brought the topic, Levi would ignore him with an angry face until he turned to talk 'bout something else and Gray would tell him, "Think about it yourself, flame brain!" with an intense glare. He couldn't get it. Why was he the only one who didn't know what was happening to her? Why would she tell Gray before telling him? She wasn't even thinking about telling him, for god's sake! He was mad. He was desperately mad. He needed to know. He felt like an outcast, the idiot who she couldn't trust enough, he felt...

"I feel so stupid..." was what slipped from his lips. Lisanna hurt under his streght to embrace her. He had probably forgotten how strong he was and that he was hugging her at the moment. She was about to tell him to please let go when he talked again in a murmur. "Damn it...!" His voice breaking and his body shaking. Natsu couldn't control his own sadness. He could only feel miserable for not being there when whatever happened took place. He could have stopped it. He would have fought anyone if it was for Lucy's sake. Seeing her cry was something he didn't want at all.

"It's alright... Everything will be alright Natsu."

Lisanna's voice brought him back to his senses and he calmed down. He realised he might have hurt her with his hug and rapidly felt guilty. "Sorry Lisanna... I don't think I'm... 'fine'..." he blurted out with heavy efforts. "Maybe I will go and sleep for a while..."

They looked at each other, deciding together if it was a good idea, and finally both smiled and Natsu kissed her on the cheek. She looked at him with a somehow sad expression while he walked through the door of the guild.

He was going straight home, he thought, but then Levi walked beside him. He stopped walking again. He had to at least try it for the last time.

Levi felt a strong grip upon her wrist and turned to face the dragon boy looking extremely irritated. Natsu didn't hesitate thought.

"I need to know," he said bluntly. Levi looked in another direction and started tapping her feet more irritated than before. "Please Levi, tell me what's happening, I need to know!".

She then abruptly stopped and looked down to the floor. He waited but he didn't expect her to look up at him with tears flowing down her face, still fully angered.

"You..." she said, her whole body trembling. She had reached her limit and Lucy opened the guild's door and went out just in time, to her surprise, to listen to her best friend shouting some awful things... "How the hell could you do that to her? She has always been there for you and you were there for her, how could you not notice how she feels? You dense brat! Lucy, she...!"

"LEVI!" The blue haired girl got cut in an instant, her blonde friend trembling in fear that she wouldn't be able to stop her, but she did. Thank godness she did.

Natsu turned to look at Lucy in shock. What was the meaning of this? He was responsible for her being depressed? What had he done?

"Lucy..." The blue haired girl whispered, calm once more. "I... Sorry, I...!"

"It's alright." Lucy interrupted her again. "It's alright..." she sobbed, few tears rolling down her cheeks. 'Thanks for not saying it, thanks god I was here, I'm so glad...!" she thought while crying and smiling at the same time.

"Lucy, please, tell me what's happening..." She continued to cry and laugh kneeling on the floor. Levi then looked at him.

"She just... can't tell you. Not you," she said sadly.

Natsu's face broke in desperation. Levi stared at him in surprise while he ran and kneeled down next to Lucy, his sadness overwhelming him.

"Lucy..." he whispered while touching her chin and bringing her face to look at him. Her face turned red as she stared at him surprised through her tears. He used his left hand to clean them away. "I don't know if I can..." his voice broke and two tears ran down his face. "I... I want you to be happy Luce..." he whispered weakly. He had never felt such an opresive feeling before in his life. It was as if something deeper that his own heart was suffering, his own soul suffered.

A warm hand like no other touched his face. He trembled and his face flushed red to the touch. Lucy locked her eyes with his and wouldn't let go. A big warmth spread through Natsu's body involuntarily. A confortable feeling showed itself clearly before him and he knew he had done something wrong.

"I l..." She started but immediately stopped herself and a cold shiver ran through her body while she imagined how bad it would be if she ended that sentence. Those three words could ruin their friendship, she was sure. Hesitating, she moved her face away from his hand and looked down to the ground bitting her low lip. She loved him so strongly she felt warmth all over her body evertime he looked at her, so deep it resonated that she was able to say she could die for him, but she wasn't going to say she loved him. He loved someone else and that would make him feel bad for her and would affect their friendship. She wouldn't permit that.

Suddenly she felt warm fingers touching her chin and golden green eyes locking with her own. Manteining her urges to kiss him under control wasn't an easy task.

"I will be fine, Natsu. You don't need to worry; neither for the reason nor for me. Everyday that goes by I feel better..." She paused looking at him and deciding how she would say the following sentence and if it was prudent to say it. "I'm just dealing with unrequited love. Rest assured I won't be beaten," she finally said while smiling and grabbing his hand gently. 'I love you' she thought to herself before hugging him as tight as she could. What she didn't expect was his arms wrapping even more tightly around her and bringing her the closest he could to his body. She became stiff in an instant and wasn't able to think anymore. She felt a feeling stronger than just happiness bursting inside her chest as he hugged her, and it wasn't much different for him. Neither of them had ever felt anything like that before. They suddenly realised he could only feel like that with her and she could only feel like that with him.

Then, abruptly, both asked themselves the same question and opened the hug to stare at each other prepared to ask.

'_This smell of vainilla an lemon...'_

'_This smell of trees and ashes...'_

"Haven't we met before...?" Both asked at the same time, looking at each other confused. Of course they had met almost every day for the past year and a half... but this was different. Two smells they recognised but hadn't noticed before, something they felt they had both forgotten and a warm clear feeling from the depths of their souls shouting not to let go ever again, shouting to remember at last what had been buried lots of years before they had even been born.

"Natsu, what...?" Lucy asked confused, her head hurting trying to remember something she had never lived.

"I...don't..." He started, sure there was something important to remember but none of his memories fitted what he was supposed to be looking for.

Headaches strucked both of them at the same time with full force. There was something, there surely was but they hadn't lived it...

"I know you!" Natsu shouted still confused but sure as hell that was true.

"I know you too! But..." Lucy replied irritated, thinking exactly the same way but looking for a place, a moment, an answer!

"Where the hell do I know you from?" they shouted at each other panting angrily and desperately. This was an important memory they couldn't find. They hadn't met when they were younger, nor could they be feeling this from a future encounter for it hadn't happened yet. Somewhere, sometime, but where and when?

"Damn it!" both shouted again.

Levi stared at them in confusion. Was something wrong with their heads?

* * *

><p>Well, hello! :D This is my first fanfiction and I'm working real hard on this story though I don't know if it shows. I would love to have your opinions on this first chapter. Chapters #2 and #3 are already done too, but I won't be uploading then just yet. Chapter #4 will be the hardest one to write for me I figure so I don't wanna torture anyone with long wait hours.<p>

I love Fairy Tail, and specially Natsu and Lucy as a couple. Sorry if I don't give much importance to other cute couples in the series. I like them anyway! :D

I sincerely wish you enjoyed and I will be the happiest person when I see someone read it.

Thanks for the time!

Ambitious Rookie.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"And then they were suddenly shouting at each other asking 'where do I know you from?'. I assure you, it was creepy, Mira!" The blue haired girl told the barmaid while shaking her head with her hands holding onto it as if she was about to lose it.

The silver haired woman just looked at her with curious eyes. For the past days Lucy and Natsu hadn't been talking much to each other and now they had been shouting instead? She didn't really know if it was supposed to be for the good or for the bad but a cheery giggle came out of her mouth. She couldn't deny it made her feel relieved. Maybe with a bit of luck, the two would become friendly like before.

Suddenly, the guild's door opened and both, Lucy and Natsu, came rampaging inside, glaring at each other and shouting.

"I once met a blonde girl back when I lived with Ignell but she was short and chubby, with fries smell and a strange voice so it couldn't be you, Luce!" Natsu stated angrily and continued to search through his memory.

"There was once an idiotic boy that kept on pestering me when I lived with my father and my mother was still alive, but he wasn't pink haired and wasn't nice, and if you say it was you, be sure I will kill you this instant!" Lucy shouted in a form of reply, still searching too while both of them sat in an empty table, one in front of the other.

Their eyebags were visible as they had been trying to deduce where they knew each other from up to late hours the night before and had even ended up sleeping in the same bed. Lucy, at least, was surprised and blushed pure red in the morning when she woke up, but the smell of ashes and trees emanating from Natsu had brought the important topic back to the front of her mind. Taking advantage of him being asleep, Lucy leaned closer to her loved prince and inhaled deeply his scent trying to see if the memory popped up. However. instead of her head reacting, she found her body becoming warmer and she felt embarrassed for the thoughts it was transmiting to her head. She had then sat up on the bed covering her face and looking in a different direction, just to hear Natsu say "Maybe I know your smell but not you?" while intensely looking her way with a somehow angry expression, to what Lucy had answered that he probably wouldn't remember her even if he had smelled her somewhere if nothing had happened between them before, blushing to the fact that he was awake and she didn't know since when but trying to ignore it.

They felt tired and too angry to think anymore but they knew they would be continuing to miss on something great if they gave up. Just a few more tries and they would probably get it straight.

"I haven't met any other blonde girls, Luce, can't you remember me instead?" Natsu snapped, roaring his words at her.

"Yeah, you know? Pink hair is easier to remember. Bad news for ya I have been telling you all this time I haven't met anyone with pink hair before you, Natsu!" she roared, too, in response.

They glared fiercely at each other for a few more seconds and then collapsed exausted over the table, asleep in an instant and surprisingly tugging gently at each other.

"You're not going... anywhere." Natsu murmured with his eyes shut.

"You neither... dragon boy..." Luce mumbled back and both of their snores started to resonate through the room.

Almost everyone stared at them, not understanding what the heck was going on.

"See? I told you it was a creepy scene!" Levy told Mira, once again holding her head.

Of course it was and Mirajane decided that them both shouting at each other like that couldn't be for the better.

"Mira-nee-chan..." a small sweet voice called her. Mirajane turned to the source of the sound and smiled at her short, silver haired sister.

"What's wrong Lisanna?" she asked, seeing her troubled expression.

"N-no! Nothing's wrong! I'm perfectly fine, um..."

She meditated her words in silence. She had come to talk to her sister about her little problem but she didn't want her to worry too much.

"I'm just... a bit worried that Natsu and Lucy are suddenly talking to each other..." she almost murmured at the end.

Mirajane rose an eyebrow. "Talking? It's more like they are shouting at each other. It doesn't look like their relationship has made any turn for the better, actually," she replied while resting her hear on her hands and staring sadly at the two sleeping idiots.

Lisanna shook her head in disagreement.

"No nee-chan, they ARE talking, they are looking at each other... It may seem as if they were fighting but truth is they are just happy to be talking again. They found a reason to talk, to shout... I think... they just want to stay together..."

The face of the little girl shadowed under her hair, visibly sad about the reality she had found.

"Oh, Lisanna..." Mirajane muttered as she extended her arms, about to hug her sister, but Lisanna, with her eyes closed, continued to mumble with tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "I... don't want to lose Natsu...! I love him!"

Her voice broke to the tears she had tried to keep inside. She just couldn't. It had been few days since Natsu and her had become boyfriend and girlfriend and she was so happy about it... But she knew Natsu was thinking way too much about Lucy and he hadn't kiss her even once even when they had been away from each other for years. Lisanna wasn't stupid. If he loved someone else, she didn't wanted to be his girlfriend... but she couldn't bring herself to ask him _'__Do__you__love__Lucy?__'_.

Makarov looked in silence at both scenes; Lucy and Natsu sleeping soundly and Lisanna being conforted by Mirajane. He felt his heart squeeze in pain to her "daughter"'s pain and then curiosity to how Natsu and Lucy had started to hung around each other again.

"'_Where__do__I__know__you__from__'_, was it? Are they talking about knowing each other before this moment or... maybe before this life?"

He thought about it for a few seconds but then decided he couldn't know about their past lives, the way they couldn't either, and gave up, drinking his beer calmly.

A big slam sound resonated through the guild; everbody's attention put to Natsu's and Lucy's table. Both, suddenly awoken mages, glared at the grinning ice mage responsible for the noise.

"Damn it, you... Gray... oh, FUCK!" Lucy shouted rubbing her eyes, feeling her head exploding inside. She needed to sleep!

"You fucking bastard! We are trying to sleep here, ya know? Why did you wake us up?" Natsu roared. His body was on fire as he showed his teeth at the irritating cold assed person.

"You two..." Gray started but then stopped and looked in a different direction blushing. "I'm glad you are okay..." he murmured shily. Natsu and Lucy opened their eyes like plates and stared, surprise filling their faces. Lucy then smiled and giggled happily closing her eyes.

"Yes, it's like a miracle, right? I'm so happy!"

Lucy laughed and blushed while talking and both mages couldn't avoid blushing at her beauty. She laughed so naturally it made their hearts beat faster even if they didn't want it to be that way. Natsu grinned at her, trying to act like he would always do... but a slight pink blush showed in his face and Lisanna couldn't help but see it.

A small sob reached Natsu's ears and he turned to Lisanna, sitting in the bar crying silently. Sadness showed in the boy's eyes as he jumped off his seat and ran to his girlfriend.

With one hand on her cheek and the other one holding her hand he asked worridly, "Lisanna... what's wrong?"

The girl's tears continued to fall while she wrapped her loved one in a tight hug and Natsu hugger her too in response.

Lucy then remembered Lisanna. Yes, she was his girlfriend, not her, and she didn't want that to change now because it would make her feel guilty. She really loved Natsu, but Lisanna did too and Natsu loved her, so for his sake she would endure the pain and continue to play the 'best friend' role. Gray observed her while her expression saddened and he sighed inwardly.

He couldn't believe Natsu hadn't noticed the looks Lucy gave him, her face blushing to his words, her body hugging him without her head's consentment, her tired expression from crying all night from time to time. He was an idiot for not noticing. He had sometimes thought of telling him, giving him some kind of hint, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. First, because he believed Natsu would rub it off and continue acting the same way. After all, he didn't look like the lovey-dovey type that much, even though he was showing the contrary with Lisanna... well, just a little. Second, he thought maybe their relationship would worsen if he interfiered. Now he was regretting not having gave that a try. That definitely would have been better than the current situation.

Lucy continued to think until she finally sighed and leaded to the door.

"You're leaving already?" Gray asked.

"Yes, I think I will go hung around somewhere for a while. See you later Gray!" She smiled while walking away, her eyes lacking her usual happy shine.

'_Probably,__we__are__not__meant__to__be__together__'_ Lucy concluded on her stroll. Suddenly she stopped.

"Mmm?... Deja vu..." She murmured confused. She hadn't reached that conclusion before. She was sure she hadn't had such depressing thoughts until then, even though she WAS depressed. Putting the topic aside she continued walking. Then, while considering to eat and ice crean, she started to hum randomly.

Natsu had seen her leaving and chased after her after being sure Lisanna was alright and stating he didn't want to find her crying when he came back; it was now forbidden! She had laughed at him and let him leave trying not to show her sadness. If she was lucky, Natsu and Lucy would just talk to each other and finish some business. He wouldn't do anything that hurt her. She believed in him... Even so, doubt made it's way to her heart.

Natsu ran after his nakama and was about to shout her name for her to turn around when her humming voice hit his ears strongly. She still kept feeling the deja vu sensation as she tried combining the tones she could make, searching for a certain melody she didn't know.

She tactfully listened to her own voice, letting her body react to the sounds, forming them in orden delicately in her mind.

The dragon boy's steps slowed down and he was lost in her humming. Both reacting to the same melody, one neither of them had heard but their souls seemed to had. Natsu's body was being filled with warmth from very deep inside in response to the unfinished song. He could feel the memory they were searching for tingling at the back of his mind... or his heart. They had met, but not when they were younger. No, he was much older and she was the same way as now.

The blonde girl stopped for a minute, convinced this was what her body was asking for and as she opened her mouth and started singing, happiness and serenity suddenly invaded her body.

Natsu stopped walking, the fire within him burning his soul and his meat. He knew that song, he knew her from years before he had even been born. He suddenly felt as if he had been many people before being Natsu and, back in time, at first, he had found her and hadn't stopped looking for her since the day they parted. He had always been looking for her and now he had finally found her.

Her voice smashed memories into Natsu's ears but they were too short or confusing. Rapidly, only one thing rose to the front of his head;

'_Please, don't stop singing.'_

Lucy felt how two strong arms closed around her from behind. She became stiff and immediately stopped singing as she felt spiky things carving slightly into her skin. A voice she recognised in two different degrees protested to her stop with a pout that sounded somewhat like a roar.

"Nat...?" she asked but decided not to finish his name as the hug became tighter and he protested once more, his head leaning against her back and the spikes carving deeper, hurting her. She looked down at his arms and found they were covered in red thick scales. Her eyes widened at the view while he hugged even strongly making a scream slip through her teeth.

"Please..." Natsu started, a rough deep voice mixing with his own while the scales hid themselves under his skin not hurting her anymore but leaving her surprised. "Don't stop... singing..."

He fought to keep the information he had gained in reach in his mind while feeling how lot's of memories Lucy's singing had bought into grasp slipped away.

His lips brushed the back of her neck while inhaling her smell and he felt delighted by the way Lucy's body trembled involuntarily under his touch. He felt so guilty he would have liked to kill himself right there. Moments ago he loved Lisanna and just felt an attraction to Lucy. Now he wanted her. He needed her. No, he had always wanted her but he wasn't able to remember. From the very first day they had met in this life he had kept her close by bringing her back with him to Fairy Tail making it her new home.

"Natsu, please... stop..." Lucy whispered unable to fight, for her body and heart wanted this more than anything in the world. But it wasn't right. He had Lisanna and they were happy together. Natsu's lips pressed on her neck and she shrieked, blushing intensely. She could feel her body melting... but she had to be strong. She stopped the hands that were about to start exploring her body and moved her neck away from Natsu's lips as much as she could. "This... is wrong. I can't do this. Please stop Natsu," she protested, almost about to cry.

He didn't let go for a while. His head rested on her soulder and he smelled her natural fragance. There were only three words in his mind, burned with fire like atmost true, and they hurt more than not having realised them ever.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright!<strong> Finally this is uploaded and I have corrected lots of spelling mistakes... Sorry about that, I was excited to upload this second chapter and didn't check before doing so. Seems like I can't write without much mistakes when it's nearly 1 am. in the morning

I wish you liked this chapter. Third one will probably be uploaded this weekend if Father's Day doesn't bring new unexpected plans to my everyday life.

Thanks for reading!

Ambitious Rookie


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Makarov opened the door someone had knocked on moments ago to find the fire dragon slayer of his guild with misery writen all over his face. The old man arched his eyebrows in a sad expression as he opened the path for the teen to come in.

"Jichan... I think I will be staying home for a while," the boy said tormented. The man calmly stared at him.

"And why would that be?" he asked in a polite manner.

"I have... remembered something..." He stopped. His hands became tight fists as he continued. "It's like... suddenly I have discovered I was supposed to be doing things in a completely different way! I have been thinking too much and missed on the most important thing..."

"And what would that be?" he asked tactfully, not wanting him to snap. There was no answer, but to his surprise, the dragon boy looked him straight in the eye, full of determination.

Makarov's eyes widened. A red aura of power was forming around Natsu, slightly different to his usual one. It proved to be more powerful than normal but Makarov wondered about the reason for the sudden difference.

He calmly tried to clear his doubts. "Natsu, something has changed... right?" He waited for him to answer. The boy looked down to the floor and then slowly nodded. "Yes."

"Mm." The master's guild agreed before letting his child go home. They wouldn't be seeing him for a while.

* * *

><p>Indeed, for numerous days, the boy didn't show his face around the guild nor did he accept any visits. He locked himself in his house and even Happy had to leave and ended up living with Lisanna temporarily. Even her wasn't let in his house...<p>

"You know, you should let Lisanna enter and see you at least once... she's worried about you." Lucy said calmly looking at the sky, her back against his door. Of course she wasn't allowed inside either, but sometimes she would sit outside with the hope he would listen to her, and then leave. "Ah... the sky is so blue, Natsu!" She smiled a lot when she talked there alone, because she believed he might be sat across the door in silence just for her only.

Everyone was worried about him and missed him a lot. The entire team Natsu seemed to be lacking shine without the fire idiot, and Lisanna was usually seen sitting alone. Lucy sat alone a lot too since Natsu and Lisanna had started dating, but nobody seemed to pay so much attention to her anymore. It was thought that Lisanna was having a harder time because few knew about Lucy's crush and her sleepless nights in sorrow.

Happy was suffering a lot, too. The poor companion missed his friend like crazy and would sometimes visit Lucy at late hours in the night. At first he was surprised to find her awake, but then saw it as a normal thing for her, after all, she was such a weirdo. Both of them would talk and eat or even go out to walk and end up in front of his house and... say "hi"...

"Idiot..." Lucy pouted to herself in the bar one morning. Her eyebags were noticeable like usual now and she felt tired.

"He's using his time alone to think things through," Makarov told her without her even asking.

"What things?" she pouted again, embarrassed to feel so childish.

"Ask him, not me, Lucy!" The old man laughed innocently after awakening the girl's curiosity.

"So sneaky," the girl commented defeated. The man continued to laugh.

A big slam sound made the girl jump in her seat. Then she saw a big and old book in front of her. She looked at her master gesturing at him to explain.

"I know you sometimes visit him alone..." She immediately blushed and directed her attention to the book. "...so, I thought maybe you would like to have something to read sometimes when you go. I don't think he is good company right now." The man smiled as he stood up and walked away.

Lucy looked at the heavy book she was now holding and then smiled too, thanking the master in her head.

She was having trouble not to cry when left alone; especially inside her apartment because she still expected him to be sitting in her couch when she entered, which had never happened for a long time now, and that wasn't a good way to feel happy in there. The only thing that relaxed her anymore was taking long hot bathes. The hot water made her head and body feel lighter and she was thankful for that, but then again, she wished for him to be there when she got out; using her bed, eating her food, exercising and dirting her floor, making her angry and happy at the same time, not sad that he wasn't there! It wasn't fair! What he hell was he doing now that they had been finally able to speak to each other again? She feared he had noticed her feelings when her body trembled after his lips kissed her neck... but it had been his fault for being so unnecesarily close to her!

"Really, Natsu! What the hell were you thinking at that moment, you... you... you~~!" She started crying over her rooms table like almost everyday. If it wasn't the table, it was the bed or in front of the mirror. She had cried everywhere already and her tears didn't seem to go out of stock. She felt so weak it was pathetic. She pretended to be strong, but she cried more than anyone she knew.

Happy would, at times like this, look at her from outside the window and fly away slowly. Lisanna wasn't bad company or anything, but he knew Natsu would be trying to take care of both girls so they could be happy and he was trying to maintain things under control while his friend was unavailable. But, truly, seing Lucy cry was bad for anyone's heart.

"You know... Lucy has so many tears!..." The blue cat told the closed door of his friend's house one depressing night. "I wish you were here, Natsu..."

Everybody was missing him as if he was the sun in their lives. Lucy felt so pathetic about it that she wanted to bury herself kilometers underground... but she also wanted to be there when he decided to come out, so she waited and started to read the book Makarov had given her. The fantastic stories released a lot of her stress so it made her happy to read it in front of Natsu's house, sometimes commenting a bit on them to the walls.

That is until she reached Magnolia's story.

"Hey, Natsu! You won't believe it!" She shouted with excitement, knocking at his door a few times trying to catch his invisible attention. "There's a story about Magnolia in here. May I read it in a loud voice for you to hear too? I'm sure you want to~~!" She grinned at the door. Then she looked down thinking how sad it felt to try talking to him when he wouldn't even answer nor could she see his handsome face. "Well, then..." she continued, "I... will read it anyway!" a sad laughter emaning from her. _'__I__need__to__practice__my__ "__happy__laught__"__,__'_ she thought.

Natsu listened to her from the other side of the door in silence. He felt kind of guilty that she was crying up to now, according to what Happy had said. He had been running in circles around her words to why she was depressed and it tortured his heart to remember the _"__I__'__m__just__suffering__from__unrequited__love__"_. She was in love with someone. Yes, with someone else, he thought, and he couldn't bring himself to not hate Gray or Loki or whoever the lucky man was, whether he responded to her feelings or not. She was going to be someone else's? His heart stung everytime she sighed.

'_Why__is__this__happening...?__'_ he would ask himself. He had made lots of mistakes, one after the other, but he was suffering so much about thinking he was losing her that he felt in the verge of running out the house and jumping off a cliff. He wanted to kill himself in a way so sadistic that even Wendy wouldn't be able to resurrect him. But he wasn't going to do it. His life wasn't his own property anymore, even if she wasn't ever going to remember him...

"_Long__years__ago_," Lucy started reading. Natsu closed his eyes as he listened to Lucy's voice AND the story, "_in__a__small__village__called__Magnolia,__a__story__that__would__be__passed__down__through__the__years__knocked__at__the__door_."

"_Magnolia__was__a__happy__and__productive__village__in__a__time__of__adventures__of__all__kinds.__Incredible__creatures__were__always__right__around__the__corner,__which__meant__incredible__fun__as__well__as__incredible__danger._

_Magnolia's king, well aware of this fact, built a rock wall around the village to keep all adventures away from the citizens. Truth is, that for many years, the village remained peaceful, protected by the wall, but everything changed the day a Drake decided to pass by._

_Drakes were slim, red coloured, fire breathing dragons, not able to fly but able to swim, dragons with pretty complicated personalities. One of their personal traits was their ability to immediately love certain things, even though, each of them had different tastes."_

Natsu felt identified with the fire dragon even before Lucy said, "He~, that's just like you, fire boy," in the midts of laughter.

"_Unfortunately__for__Magnolia,__the__Drake__walked__by__the__lake__nearby__the__village__and__immediately__loved__it__and__claimed__it__his,__while__instaling__his__nest__in__it._

_The villagers that fished in the lake, soon encountered the dragon, not only to feel their hearts stop at his presence, but also to find out it didn't have an special liking for humans, or rather, it was completely the other way round._

_The lake turned to be a forbidden place, for the dragon was too agressive and fierce. Everyone kept far from the danger; they didn't expect danger to come find them._

_A rock wall may be good defense to guard against many creatures, but dragons were too agil, strong and intelligent as to not be able to find the entrance door, fly over the small obstacle or break it to pieces without much effort, and for Magnolia's disfortune, not only did the dragon invade the village, but it also turned to be the destructive type while he rampaged through the houses, smashing all kinds of things and eating the food he found."_

Both heads started to form ridiculously real images of what Lucy read, their bodies reacting to the words as she nervously started to read faster, scared of the vivity of the screams and crush sounds inside her head as it started throbbing with pain.

"_The__rock__wall__was__repaired__and__crashed__practically__everyday,__no__defense__against__the__dragon__'__s__stealing__food__attacks.__That__'__s__when__the__king__came__up__with__a__new__idea__to__escape__the__claws__of__adventure._

"_If we give the dragon what he is coming to get, without him needing to come get it,_

_then he won't be in need to attack us anymore."_

_It was decided to deliver the dragon big amounts of food to keep him away from the village, but of course, someone was meant to deliver it and there wasn't anyone brave or crazy enough to volunteer. That is, until the princess rose her hand in the air assuring she would take on the delivery plan, even thought it wasn't her father's, the king, favorite outcome."_

Lucy stopped for a while, shocked. She looked at herself. She was still holding the book; neither of her hands was up in the air and her king wasn't in front of her with a sad face. What king? Her father? Her king? She doubted her head. "Am I going crazy, Natsu? I'm not a princess... right? Was I?" She felt hot air slipping from the other side of the door and continued reading, supposing that was his way of asking her to continue... or his way of being annoyed at her, maybe.

"_At the begining, it was really difficult for the princess to act so that the dragon wouldn't hurt her, but as time went by, the realtionship between the dragon and the princess began to grow and they enjoyed being with each other._

_Unfortunately, the dragon was becoming a big burden on the village. He didn't attack anymore, he had become used to being fed, but he ate too much and the productive village wasn't able to produce enough food for both the dragon and the citizens._

_Around that time, the idea of killing the dragon or dying of hunger started to fly through the wind, finally reaching the princess' ears._

_The disheartened princess ran to her dragon friend and told him, while crying, that he was in big danger."_

Lucy could clearly see the red dragon inside her head. She cried as she continued reading. She wasn't imagining anything; she was remembering everything and knew the end of the story already, but between sorrows continued to read anyways.

"_Poor unlucky princess that a knight in shiny armour saw her crying near the dangerous dragon and, alarmed, came to her 'rescue'._

_Drake and knight started a bloody battle while the princess shouted for them to stop without being heard._

_Suddenly, on a wrong turn and a lose of balance, the knight's sword stabbed the dragon's chest, making his blood pour down to the ground while he collapsed._

_The knight then turned triumphant to the beautiful princess who ran in his direction, surprised to find out she was running straight to the dragon and shaking in fear for his well-being._

_The Drake wasn't left with much strengh but for the first time he spoke to the princess and said:_

'_We will surely meet again.'_

_The princess cried while singing a song she used to sing for the dragon when he looked tired, but then suddenly felt the icy feel of a blade stabbing her from the back, before dying, understanding her betrayal to her village by choosing the dragon over her father and Magnolia's citizens._

_Magnolia both cried their princess' death and betrayal and at the same time celebrated the dragon's death. Almost both of their deaths._

_Now, empovered and sad, Magnolia once more repaired its rock wall and closed the door to adventure, wishing for it to never come back and knock ever again."_

Lucy cried uncontrolably. SHE was the princess and her friend was dead. She could feel the dragons scales under her fingers as she hugged his head and sang the melody she used to sing. She hadn't been able to protect him nor her village. She was a burden on both of them... but she felt safe with him. He was her first and only friend when she had been...

"Princess..." a deep rough voice that sounded more like a roar called her from behind her, the door still closed. She turned as fast as she could and stared at the door. A smell of trees and ashes smacked her nose.

"Open the door," she murmured. "Open the door right now, Natsu!" she shouted, immediately punching her fists against the door.

There was no mistake that the smell and his voice were the same. She had lost him once and he had too, that's why...!

She slowly stopped her fists and put them down. The times were different... no, maybe they were different.

'_I have loving you and looking for you for many decades, so, why is it that when I finally find you, it turns out you love someone else?'_

She looked in a different direction as she stood up in silence.

"Might be my fault..." she whispered involuntarily. It was meant to be a thought to herself only, but she made the mistake of saying it aloud.

"Mine," the rough voice corrected. She looked at the door.

"You had already remembered and wouldn't tell me... right?" There was no answer to her question. "We were good friends... right?" Once again only silence remained. "That's all there is to it, sorry if you don't like the idea. It sounds crazy or maybe it may sound disgusting..." She stared at the door, her anger becoming stronger with every minute. "Alright! I understand!" she shouted desperately, "SORRY THAT I LOVE SO MUCH THEN!" she cried while running away. Someone, however, felt such surprise in his heart from listening something so different to what he thought she was suggesting that warmth spread all over his body and outside it.

Things were too different to what he had thought. Wasn't she going to tell him he had always and would always be her FRIEND? Wait, maybe she WAS actually saying that, but then she could have said it clearer, this way it led to heavy misundertandings...

She heard the door open many steps behind her and ran faster, wishing to reach somewhere safe before he caught her, but, of course, it was too much to ask for and she immediately felt two strong arms hugging her... but she knew it was his way of stopping her in only one place, nothing romantic, for, they had to talk.

* * *

><p><strong>This<strong> one is my favorite chapter, damn it. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Once upon a time, when dragons still roamed Earth freely, causing mischief and chaos to human civilization, existed a small and productive village called Magnolia. It's citizens lived happily, proud of their hardwork and good lives, obedient and respectful to their king and secure. Yes, secure. In this time of dreadful dragons, the man in their government had built a masive rock wall around the village for them to work and live safe from creature's attacks; especially dragons.

However, truth is, dragons were more than mere gigantic creatures. They were agil, strong, dangerous and intelligent. More than enough to observe and find the entrances in a rock wall or savage enough to throw themselves at it to break it with their even harder bodies. Thing was, there hadn't been any dragon choosing to form it's nest near Magnolia ever, so the secure feeling was merely luck founded. Dragons weren't stupid enough to live in places full of humans when they could just go live in a mountain and find food there without having to attack a village, which was much more of a hussle with all the noise, the craziness of people panicking and the tiresome it brought to dragons.

But, maybe, it could be said that Magnolia's luck ran out the day a Drake, a red coloured dragon, capable of belching out fire, had the occurence of walking beside the small village.

Drakes were just like fire itself. They were passionate with the things they came to like, turning that like immediately into love, and this Drake had found the most wonderful lake he had ever seen while on his trip beside the village.

The dragon fell in love with the shadows the trees proyected above the lake and around it and the subtle light that fell on it, making some parts of the lake shine, and loved the breeze that made the trees dance calmly.

The dragon immediately installed at the place, proud of his new nest, even though he knew he would have some problems finding food and he would have to attack the humans he could hear from the place. However, he believed in his own streght so much, that he assumed it would be child's play attacking the group.

And so started Magnolia's problems.

* * *

><p>"So, are there any volunteers?"<p>

Silence.

'Of course nobody is going to rise their hand. Even for you father... really, your plan this time is too reckless. Even if it makes sense and it's for the best for the village... nobody is going to volunteer to deliver food to a fire dragon such a Drakes. And not to that one especifically; it's too dangerous. And this people are all scaredy-cats, you know? It's written all over their faces that they wish for someone to responsibilise for the delivery before you resort to a comunitary strategy of taking turns to do it...'

I sighed.

'Really...'

"There is one, I see." My father's voice was sad to see it would be her daughter who would be taking care of the problem.

Yes, the glass-made damsell in distress will walk right into death's fauces. Oh! Poor little, beautiful, perfect princess! She's gonna die such a horrible death, burnt by a Drake!

OH, WHAT A PITY!

Of course nobody is gonna do anything more than let me die for the village. If it wasn't for me here, there wouldn't be anyone to do this, so at least I'm trying. And NO, I'M NOT ANY DAMSELL IN DISTRESS, and I'M GONNA COME OUT ALIVE FROM THIS. Since, like, always, I have been underestimated. My upbringing has been too sheltered up till now, so this will be a challenge for myself and an end to the belief that I'm not able to do anything on my own. Damn it! Always with guards around me as if I were to break at any moment just by walking around roses or whatever! With this, I won't be followed by guards at least for the deliveries (nobody would want to share my supposed horrifying death) and it will give me some time to simply think or even sleep or write.

Of course, I'm not saying dragons are to be taken lightly... Well! Come on! They are stupid like hell creatures! The only dangerous thing about them is they can burn you or cut you real bad, but I think I can manage to stop a dragon from touching me even if I'm on my own, after all, I'm pretty strong myself! Maybe I could just kill the damn beast and become a heroine from day to night.

.

The princess laughed, continuing to spout probably just nonsense in her mind and preparing to go to bed; that silky puffy bed, while wearing her perfectly pink piyamas, protected by guards outside her door and the entire castle.

The next day would be her first time to get so close to a dragon, something most people would certainly avoid, and with good reasons. For a start, instinct went against getting near dragons because of the difference in power in comparison to humans... How bad the princess is this thick headed at this rate of the story... right?

'Finally! Being outside, walking between trees is such a nice thing to do! But the best part is the possibility to be alone. No guards around me, nobody bowing at me... For the first time, just a girl on her journey; even though it's straight to a Drake's nest, it still is my first journet on my own and the first of many others as long as I continue with this delivery plan! Lucky me! ' the princess screamed entusiasticaly in her head as she walked in the forest, through the path that led to the lake, where she was supposed to find her death. She carefully tested each piece of ground, rock or tree she stood up upon and smiled, humming a little song; one of those she had composed out of having so much free time.

She wasn't giving much importance about the job she was supposed to be doing. After all, nobody expected her to make it back so she would take her time. She rested, putting her back against a tree and slowly slipping down until she had sat down on it's roots. She could hear the birds around her, peacefully singing and flapping their wings. If there was a dragon on the other side of those two rows of trees she had to her left, it didn't show at all. Everything was so peaceful she wondered if sleeping a short nap would be a good idea, but instead opened her eyes slightly and looked at the trees dancing with the wind in perfect harmony. She could hear the sound of water slowly moving; little splashes too as birds seemed to wash themselves happily.

The princess stood up, energized and excited to see the lake for the first time in her lfe and her jaw dropped a bit as she stared at the incredible background, just as if is was magical for some reason; probably for being so damn beautiful. Her head turned slowly in every direction, trying to keep the magnificent smells, the sounds, the color shades upon the water, the shadows of the trees and the shiny rocks underwater inside her memory.

Amazed, she took two long steps forward, completely distracted by the view... and suddenly heard the splashing of water and rocks suffering soundly while sharp claws made them crack under their grasp. A red, shadowed, but shiny, big figure glared at her from a big rock in the middle of the lake. The princess couldn't avoid staring at how the dragon's scales reflected the sunlight and his fitures became so clear she could understand he was obviously not happy that she was in his or her nest and was ready to kick her out any moment if she didn't ran herself.

But of course, as I wish you know by now, the princess is a bit, let's say, stupid, somehow...

"Hmph" the blonde smiled sneering.

She stood her ground determined, noticing how the dragon's eyes hardened on her, realising she didn't intend to leave by good means. Then, it would be by the bad ones...

Oh, poor princess.

The dragon didn't back down either, there was no reason to back down for. The princess noticed how those two big eyes rapidly checked what she had on her, searching for any kind of weapon giving her the courage to stay there and immediately realised she only had clothes (on), a sharp hair pin which was no big difference and a basket, strangly, full of food that smelled pretty good. The beast exlahed, showing it's teeth in a way the girl identified as grinning and was immediately pissed off, as she was completely being looked down on. Subtle clouds of air came out of the big nosetrils and the princess noticed how she wanted to take her royal coat off, feeling the air becoming hotter with each second.

For the first time, her legs trembled showing her discomfort as the temperature continued to go higher and the dragon started to move.

It moved so fast that the princess lost sight of it some instants and when she decided to run, a big, scaly hand with four fingers and four sharp and hard claws encaged her neck against a tree brusquely, leaving her with no possible escape. The hand was as big as her head and put on great pressure on her neck. The temperature was more than unbearable and the princess gasped realising she was the one who had looked down on the dragon. She had let her guard down a few times there, but it wasn't a matter only about paying attention; she didn't stand a chance against something so big, fast and strong. The dragon had looked down on her because she had been stubborn enough to enter the nest that was his without carrying any self-defense weapon and risked her life even more by staying to prove she was strong enough to make it back to the village without anyone's help.

One tear rolled down her cheek as she looked in the dragon's eyes, smiling at how it waited to see what was she going to do in that situation, having lost. The beast knew perfectly that animals, when cornered, give themselves to the hunters mercy, acknowledging they have lost even though they want to live. Humans, on the other hand, listen less to this instinct and try to pull some last tricks, horrible and dishonest tricks, before giving up and tend to aim to kill instead of dying, without thinking that, maybe, just maybe, dependeing on the mood, the hunter may not want to dirty his hands with another's blood if it's not necessary. But, contrary to the dragon's belief, the princess silently acted the same way animals do and waited, sobbing, with her eyes closed.

The dragon stared at her surprised and closed it's claws tighter aroung the princess' neck, coming in contact with her bare skin, but then moved backwards retiring the hand that could kill her and lazily laying down at the lake's bank, letting the water cool his body down.

The blonde, scared girl opened her eyes surprised and remained inmobil as she stared at the calm dragon that didn't even look in her direction. _She__was__alive!__Wow!_ The thrill sent a shiver down her spine as she slammed her butt down on the floor panting.

She spent numerous minutes breathing and calming herself down, while she explored her neck, amazed that there was not even one injury on her.

She, then, glanced at the dragon again. If she was alive it was all thanks to the big animal, which, once more, she couldn't stop herself from thinking as beautiful while the light showered it, bringing shine to the carmin, red scales.

"Thank you" she said while smiling calmly. The Drake opened its eyes – his eyes as she believed it was a he – and exhaled dense clouds of hot air, staring at her with tiredness in his eyes. The princess snapped at the dragon's attitude, that she understood as a sigh of boredom (and wasn't mistaken at all), and stood up to start a new fight on a whim, forgetting again that she was the one at a disadvantage there.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that! Who told you you could make fun of me? I'm not forgiving such insolence!" The princess shouted furiously, the same way she would shout at any other person when she was actually speaking to a dragon.

The animal lifted his head in the air and looked surprised as her face turned red with anger, completely stubborn to make the dragon change his attitude towards her, but, instead, recieving a booming, rough laugh that overflowed the forest and occupied her ears.

Her body filled with surprise and embarrassment while the dragon continued to make fun of her right in her face, then followed with anger rising and coming out in shouts of "Stop making fun of me!". She stomped her way to the dragon and suddenly found herself trying uselessly to push him down, even though he was already laying with his tummy fresh in the water.

The beast looked astonished but menacingly at the blonde human that had just touched him, but the girl didn't notice as she stood up and protested that it was HIS fault that now her shoes, dress and legs were completely soaked with water.

'_Who__told__you__to__try__and__push__me?__'_ the dragon thought staring at the idiot. No human had been SO stupid before; they were supposed to know dragons are one of the numerous causes for humans death, and quite the important one at it.

The pumpered princess rampaged away from him and threw her shoes around carelessly, not minding if they broke in the process, which made the dragon think maybe she was a little bit like him, even though she was too moody from what he had seen up till then. After that, she immediately threw herself down slamming her bottom against the floor and directing an angered pout right at him (that he found somehow cute as well as idiotic). She looked just like a little kid and the dragon decided there was nothing possibly harmful about someone like that and grinned at her, making her face red in embarrasment again.

The princess sighted after a while, realising she wouldn't be able to make the dragon feel guilty about her getting soaked wet because of him and outstreched her arms and legs, letting her back fall to the ground with a groan. The dragon noted in his head that not only was she not harmful, but also thought of him the same way, believing he wouldn't attack her out of the blue just because he had got the chance.

From the floor, the princess looked at the sky, well, what she could see of it in between the trees, so she observed the dancing trees instead, which leaded her eyes down to her back and she turned her head following the one nearer her. Consecuently, her eyes met the basket she had brought with her and remembered why she was there in the first place. Her head turned to the sky again as she decided how to complete her task.

Using her elbows to rise her upper body a little and have the dragon in sight (dragon that was looking at her too), she arched her eyebrows in disbelief that she was there, asking herself why had she been so stubborn as to VOLUNTEER to do this, then sighed and stood up slowly.

She turned to the tree and started walking, reaching the basket finally and turning again with an nervous smile on her face, saying, "I have something for-," but stopping herself when she realised the dragon was not in the water anymore, nor anywhere to be seen.

She searched for him around the lake from the place she stood on and pouted in protest when she couldn't find him. She sat again, with the basket to her left and continued to pout stubbornly.

"Where did he go?" She mumbled frustrated. Glancing at the basket, she decided he was telling her he didn't want the delicious food she had brought him and sticked her hand inside, bringing out a loaf of bread she immediately bit in.

Little crumbs rolled down her face with each bite, creating a little forest in her dress. On a whim she decided she would eat everything and turned to her side to find the dragon tagging at HER basket and about to take it without her even realising.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she gasped as the dragon instantly took her basket away.

"Hey!" she shouted irritated, fighting to stand up faster than she could.

When she reached the back of the tree, the dragon wasn't there anymore, the same as before and she let out a frustrated huff in response. A rough laugh made her snap out of her thoughts of wanting to kill the beast, making her look up to find the subject of her fury, swinging the basket from side to side above her head.

She didn't wanted to fall in his game, but jumped and tried to reach for the basket anyway, obviously failing. The dragon laughed harder, lowering the basket a little bit, wanting her to try and reach it again. However, the princess wasn't about to let her pride be stepped on two times in a row and glared at the dragon fiercely. She didn't need words to make him understand he had pissed her off and wanted her basket back that instant.

However, the dragon looked at the princess making an incomprehensible face she couldn't put her finger on for a while, and finally decided it somehow resembled a pout. Was a dragon pouting at her? Oh, yes, he was!

"Don't give me that!" The princess complained, feeling guilt popping inside her even though she didn't had to feel guilty about wanting her basket back! Well, she HAD gone there to deliver that basket to the dragon in the first place...

She lowered her head in a deep sight before sitting down in a surrender manner.

The dragon whined disappointed, asking her to play for longer but she closed her eyes, rubbed her temples and refrained from moving.

She stayed silent even though the dragon protested against it through every kind of sound, and finally she dropped her arms to her legs and talked.

"I'm not going to try to get that basket back anymore, I brought it all the way here, so you have it. And STOP MAKING FUN OF ME FOR EVERY LITTLE THING!" she couldn't help but shout in the end, getting the dragon to laugh again.

She huffed and let herself fall backwards to rest against the tree. Instead, she found herself falling against the dragon's side and jumped up immediately. The dragon looked at her questioningly and she noticed in his eyes how he didn't seem to be bothered by her touching him or leaning on him.

She thought about trying to lay down again but then decided that even though he wasn't attacking her, it WAS a bit dangerous to be so close to him.

The dragon took a peak inside the basket slightly lifting the covers on it and then glanced at the girl, making sure he was meant to have it. She smiled and the dragon pulled the basket nearer, blowing the covers away and digging in, after lighting then on fire... just for fun.

The princess gaped in horror for HER covers and then thought about the forest and ran to the lake, not knowing what to use to bring the water to the fire. The dragon took the basket by the handle in his mouth and playfully tugged alongside the princess who looked at him disaprovingly and pointed at the fire.

"Don't come to me being all goody-goody when I'm rushing to put out YOUR fire!" she protested. The dragon glanced at the fire for an instant and immediately back to the princess. His ears went backwards and his eyes seemed to tell her _'__You__'__re__so__fucking__bothersome__'_ as he let go of the basket and sipped water from the lake. Then, looking at the fire once more, he spat the water, turning it off.

The surprised and admiring look in the princess face turned to anger and embarrassment when she realised the dragon was grinning at her with a look that said _'__Was__that__what__you__wanted__to__do?__'_, celebrating his victory inwardly for being able to so something she wasn't, right to her face.

"H-hey! Don't! I-I couldn't have done it that way! My mouth is too small to put off a fire with a spit and I can't spit that far either!" She tried to retort and recieved a dragon about to burst out laught in reponse. "N-no! No, no, no, no!"

Protesting proved to be futile when the princess was almost knocked out by the laughter.

.

"Oh!" Is the first word I hear now that I'm back. Many people seem to be gasping that I don't have even one injury on me, or maybe they are just surprised that I'm still alive. I can now understand why they were so scared about delivering food to a dragon; they really are dangerous creatures, but, who would have guessed that a dragon could be so fucking playful to the point that it's even bothersome? The drake ate all of the food and tagged along with me around the lake and through the nearby trees. Hell, he even pushed me to the water and jumped next to me, splashing everywhere!

The strangest of things is his face, though. Of course its a dragon's and all, but specially because of that, I can't believe how simple it is to read his mood! It's not even as if he was talking, but shouting right at you each of his emotions!

"Oh, princess! It's a miracle!" a big woman shouts at me while coming closer and slightly bowing her head.

I politely answer like the nice princess I'm supposed to be, even though, you know, nobody can be nice ALL THE FUCKING TIME. I always feel tired about how I have to put a pretty face for anyone and everyone, everywhere and everytime, and probably for the rest of my life I will be having to put my opinions and interests aside for my father and my people.

Many citizens concentrate around me as I answer little questions and smile to their good intentions in being happy about me returning safety, even though they had left it to fate whether I came back or not, not even thinking about accompaning me for even a second.

"I'd better be heading for the castle now; my father must be worried. Please, excuse me," are the best respectful words for moments like this to rapidly fly away.

Father is a good man, a good king, he must be worried for the princess' well-being and it's my duty to inform him he hasn't lost her to the beast. After all, the princess, especially when there's no prince, is an important politic figure to create solid relationships with other places through marrigement, even if it is under her complete disagreement. With this reasoning, it's understandable that my father's eyes lit up when he sees me entering the castle, followed by the guards I have encountered in my way home. He walks to me smiling.

"It's a pleasure to see you are alright."

"I'm honoured." I smile back respectfully; he is more the king than he is my father. "The delivery plan went smoothly; the dragon ate everything and I'm not harmed anywhere."

He nods at me satisfied. I will be doing this everyday from now on and if things continue to go well, everyone will be happy and I will be helping my village, that is my important home...

A deep roar echoes through the castle walls in unison to the sound of things being crased down. Both my father and I become alarmed in an instant.

"Again?" my father questions disturbed. "This is just too much; eating but still wanting more..." It's pretty difficult not to notice when he is about to explode and kill someone.

"Wait, he might have misundertood what the food was for, let me try and stop him."

"What nonsence are you spouting? It's a dragon we are talking about here!" My father responds, glaring directly at me. I, used to his glare in difficult times, stand firmly and look him in the eye.

"Let me try," I demand determined. His glare softens in confusion to what to do and I take his doubt as a 'yes' and immediately run off, trying to spot the noise's source.

The brute's laugh hits my ears and I turn the corner of a house to find the red dragon pushing some crying kid's shirt against the floor to restrain him from escaping but still letting him TRY.

Fury invades my body as I look at the scene.

"Hey! Big, red lizard!" I shout, getting everybody to look at me, including the stupid animal. He turns stunned and lets go of the boy's shirt, his face playful AGAIN when he sees me. "Don't even think about it, dragon. I'm not going to be nice with those who harm my home." I start to walk nearer but barely manage to step three times before he comes rushing my way and stops in front ot me. "I will go everyday to your nest and bring you food like today and play with you... if you want me to..." I say, becoming doubtful when the thought crosses my mind that I am actually kind of an inctruder in his nest.

However, to my surprise, his eyes soften on me and he smiles gently, moving his head closer and closing his eyes. I stare at him silently until he groans and opens an eye to peak on me, pleading for something. Looking confused, I rise a hand on my side. The dragon, opening both eyes, realises I can't understand what he wants and huffs tired, moving his head to my hand and petting himself with it.

MY laughter is the one being hear now.

"Okay," I say while petting his head. "Go back now, I will go find you tomorrow."

The dragon grins in response and heads back, storming away, not missing the chance to break some last pots on the way.

"P-princess... what was that?" someone asks suddenly.

"You were... talking with the beast?" a different person askes irritated and surprised at the same time.

I become stiff to the sudden interrogatory. Of course it would be seen as strange if the princess talked to the dragon, right? Oh yeah! I am supposed to be afraid! But, then again, I am! I know the dragon is extremely dangerous, I'm being cautious around him, but, well... he is pretty nice after all...

"Sorry about this. I have spent all day with the dragon by now and it has even come here to cause more disturbances. I will be caring for the dragon from now on and will take responsibility fos his actions as I continue to go on with the delivery plan, but in exchange, everyone in this village is forbidden from getting near the lake, let alone enter it's area. I won't have mercy on anyone getting near the dragon or hurting him and being hurt. For your own safety I advice you to follow my comand from this day onwards with no objections."

.

Everybody looked at the serious princess declaring something that tried to be for the village's good but seemed to protect the dragon better. There were some individuals about to protest or at least give their oppinion on the topic already when the king appeared and reassured that his daughter's command was for everyone to be safe, far away from the dragon, and nobody felt like standing against him at all.

Inside the accomplice castle wall's silence, the daughter was kicked and insulted by the man who had had to save her image from being brought to pieces. The girl's tears flowed in silence as she accepted each blow, acknowledging the fact that her command wouldn't be brushed off as a mistake of hers now that the king had defended it in public, even if it earned her a few bruises.

Nobody dared get close to the lake nor the dragon from then on and the princess continued to carry on her trips to the lake to feed the big animal.

Time taught her about the dragon's moods and his favorite foods as well as he learned the blond's limitations and her weak points in tickles, jokes and sad matters.

Both grew attached to each other, against what everybody else would have wanted... until the day they parted...

* * *

><p>The boy's mouth opened and closed repeatedly without succeding on getting any words out. After all, the words he wanted to say were mixed around the general ideas in his mind that he thought needed to be transmited but he hadn't decided to spit out yet.<p>

His heart squeezed with each of the girl's sobs and his arms wrapped around her torax more and more tighly as time passed by, little seconds feeling like hours. Maybe she was deppressed because of unrequited love, but this time, she was crying because of him. Yeah, he wouldn't be crying but he would certainly be angry if Lucy had remembered about their past and had locked herself up without telling him anything. After all, it was both's past. They had the same right to know every little detail...

However, he found himself hating the book that had spilled the beans he had been trying so hard to hide. He was completely sure both of them would have been happier if they didn't discover they had known each other before. No, if it was only know each other, maybe they could be talking about their past together and laughing... No... they... at least _he_ had loved her. She was the ONE and ONLY person that mattered. The only one that was worth saving even if it meant risking his life. But he was a dragon and she was a princess AND a human. No way a love like that had any possibilities... And now, that he was human TOO and had found her at last...!

'_I have been loving you and looking for you for so many decades, so why is it that when I finally find you it turns out you love someone else?'_

He wanted her to be only his, but the world had given him this rotten good-to-the-core personality that had made him lock himself up in order not to interfere in Lucy's love matters. In his head and heart, even if it made both things hurt, Lucy's happiness was MORE important, by FAR, than his own. If she was to find happiness with someone else, then he could only accept it and enjoy their FRIENDSHIP, permanently stopping himself from jumping on her and kissing her fiercely, then turning the kiss to a tender one when she responded and pulling her near his body...

The fantasies were becoming more and more frecuent and desirable... If he was gonna stay her friend, what was he doing hugging her now?

He tried to pull away but couldn't let go of the warm body he held in his arms and the citric smell that invaded his nose when she was so near his body. He wanted this. Every day, every hour, this and even more.

His thoughts continued to trail off even though he tried to control himself and he had to snap out of them every few seconds. His head occasionaly rested on the blonde's shoulder for some minutes and he backed down a little when gaining some self control only to be back in the exact same spot few seconds later, losing it again. His eyes had decided to stay shut as he concentrated on feeling her body without starting to move his hands to explore it; just enjoying the feel of her little tummy and her warm boney shoulder as well as her silky bright hair.

A soft hand grabbed his own and a beam of happiness shot him, running through his veins as if it was a really important marathon. For a moment he permitted himself imagine she wanted him and was actually taking the iniciative... that is before he took notice of something that sent chills down his spine. The red scales marked his body, reminding him of the distance between him and the princess... Maybe he hadn't escaped to the dephts of his house for Lucy's love life's sake, but because he was scared of being rejected by the person he most loved... and, if he was NOT rejected... he was still afraid of even trying, because he was already in a relationship...

The former princess continued to grab the hand as she slowly turned her head to look in the boy's eyes. They gazed at each other for long moments and finally their hearts decided to stop torturing themselves with what neither of them would let happen even when they so wanted it.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright :D<strong> fourth chapter done typing and uploaded. Wish you like! I know it's a bit long but I thought it was nice to see how they met in their previous life and then come back to the moment we were in.

Oh, love hurts so much boohoo. Their hearts hurt when they look at each other, thinking they will surely be rejected by the other. That's the cuteness of this couple :D

Ambitious Rookie


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Natsu!" A high pitched voice shouted when the dragon slayer entered through the guild's door as the blue furred animal collided with the boy's chest. "Natsu, Natsu... you're FINALLY back!" The winged cat cried loudly at his friend, a hint of anger in his voice.

The dragon slayer smiled brightly at his feline friend while saying something on the lines of "sorry Happy, I'm back" as he walked to the bar. Just one look over the guild was enough to make his smile almost disappear.

'Of course she wouldn't be here' he thought gloomily, 'even if she actually was, she probably wouldn't want to talk... with me.'

He slightly slumped over the bar table from his seat and closed his eyes, concluding that sleeping would make him pretty good, but someone else, who had been shocked to the point of not being able to move when he entered the room, hadn't noticed his new found desire for sleep as she patted on his shoulder and poked his nose when he turned around.

"Hey- What the...!" He started but decided to leave the rest unspoken as he stared right at his made-out-of-glass personality like, white haired friend. Reality gave him a really hard blow right then when all the memories and feelings he held for Lisanna shook his mind and body... only to make him realise, once more, that it wasn't the same. What was he supposed to do now? The person he loved before wasn't his love interest in the same way anymore, but she was STILL his girlfriend, so what could he do? Tell her he loved someone else? If it was him in her place, he would surely run right back to his house and lock himself down, let's say... ETERNALLY, maybe.

The warmth he had felt from Lucy's body and the delightful sensation of his lips touching her neck tingled in Natsu's mind like stabs of pure guilt, for, they were the same as shouting he had betrayed his girlfriend. Oh, how angry Igneel would be if he found out about all his stupid actions since Lisanna had come back, or wait, maybe more; stupid since the moment he found the princess and didn't realise the scent she held hadn't changed one bit, stupid to not had believed his nose when it said '_there's something familiar in this girl'_.

Truth is, he was seriously starting to hate himself for everything and everytime he did bad things to her. Since the start, she had always been there for him, just like Levy had said, and he was there for her as if a magnet pulled him closer, always. But then, when Lisanna appeared, HE desappeard from Lucy's side. Powerful emotions pulled him to Lisanna too and he assumed he still loved her. Maybe it was because he was used to the idea that he loved Lisanna that he paid no attention to his feelings for the blonde.

'From the beginning, I might have been looking for a way to step aside from feeling so in love with Lucy and found my excuse in Lisanna's come back.' He thought silently with his head lowered while he found his answer to the heavy matter burdening him. You can never know for sure why you do certain things and when you try to find a motive for your actions nothing equals the truth completely, but Natsu could only assume that, most probably, this had been his train of thought to end up in that situation all by himself, and now he had to get things straight, even if it broke some hearts or confused many people...

Even if it broke his own heart.

A big, black stain of fear kept on growing inside his heart. Anxiety was a feeling he didn't wish for anyone to feel, not even him, being as strong as he was. During his isolated days he had found how cruel and terrifying being in love could be when you were sure to devote your life to the other person even if he, or she in this case, was to break your heart multiple times by kissing someone in front of you or hold hands with someone you can't help but hate... It was cruel only imagining it and even worst it would be to actually see it. Natsu had clearly come to desire for Lucy's unrequited love to continue to be unrequited until he could make her fall for him,... that is, if he even stood a chance, or course. If not, long, sad and lonely days awaited him.

For now, he had to try. Try the hardest he could until there was not even one miserable thing else to put to test.

"Lisanna" he said with a serious, determined expression, looking her in the eyes as his hands took hold of her soulders. Lisanna's eyes opened like plates and she stared at the boy she loved getting all serious over her, and, for a moment, she thought their first kiss would be right there, right then... that is, until his eyebrows arched sadly and the fear inside of her made her heart tremble with the certainty of what she knew was sure to happen but she hadn't been able to clear up until then.

She had been depressed and torturing herself during his confinement and was now finally ready to ask and hear his answer without tearing to pieces, so she put her hand up in front of her and gave him the clear message to stop before saying anything.

Her face was serious and Natsu waited in silence until she put her hand down, stretching her spine and standing firmly in her place.

"Natsu, do you love Lucy?"

The question made Mirajane's (right behind Natsu) jaw drop with surprise and Levy, few chairs away, spit her drink (something she would later apologise for).

Natsu continued to look her in the eye, first visibly surprised and then serious as he responded.

"...Yes."

His secure voice was tainted with all the guilt he held for hurting one of his important friends, the person he now knew would always be like a little sister to him. Her eyes couldn't hide the sadness in her heart, but a sweet smile made it's way to the girl's face unexpectedly. Really, how stupid she had been, almost selfish.

'The most important thing is for everyone to be happy with the person they love, not for one-sided relationships to continue to live on because of a whim.'

It was as if somebody had suddenly lit up a dark room in her heart and she had regained her usual positive outlook. She couldn't say she LOVED this development, but to see Natsu being so serious about dating a girl, even if it wasn't her, was something to be respected and recognised. Lisanna was cute and nice, she would wait for someone else to fall in love with and marry him; after all, she had all her life ahead to search for the one who would love her back and she didn't need to rush.

"So?" Lisanna asked, eyes shining again. "What are you still doing here? You're supposed to tell that to someone else; GO TO HER, IDIOT!" She shouted, pushing him to the door, running and smiling brightly.

Natsu looked backwards, directly in the girl's eyes and smiled genuinely.

"Thanks, a WHOLE LOT, Lisanna!" He shouted excitedly as he exited through the door, running as fast as he could. Lisanna observed him until he was out of sight and noticed how thick water drops rolled down her face and into the floor and her shirt, unable to erase her smiling face but prove of her stinging heart.

* * *

><p>Running at the speed he was, not tripping with his own feet was a big challenge for Natsu as he headed to the princess' apartment. The wind carried her scent gently all around him, concentrating in that place she called house and he had come to recognise as one too, even more than his own. Just imagining her honey brown eyes looking at him and her flawless smile made his heart skip a beat. He wanted to be able to see her smile and laugh everyday of his life; there was nothing to it, he was completely and undoubtfully in love with Lucy Heartfillia.<p>

Okay, well, this is all nice and roses color, but what would be HER face when he tried to tell her? Maybe she would be angry with him for some reason; she usually got angry for reasons he couldn't quite grasp and she was DEFINITELY sacry when she wanted to be. What would he do about her unrequited love? Maybe he would ask her to forget the stupid guy and give him a chance, or maybe he could go and DESTROY the idiot with no mercy and declare she didn't have to suffer anymore...

Surely, even HE was intelligent enough as to understand the second option would surely make her HATE him and he was not in the least prepared for something so heartbreaking. He decided to just confess sincerely and let things flow, even if he ended up with a label for the trashcan for "_Unreparable Heart Diseases"_. A~~~h. Love is such a hussle.

He was almost half way from her house when his nose told him something... strange... Could it possibly be that her house was coming his way? No, no, of course not, the smell was the strongest Lucy scent so it could only be her... Wait, that's even stranger. Was Lucy running his way? Most probably she would be running to the guild, it's the same way after all, he came from there... Well, in any case, right then she was running right in his direction so he could actually talk with her with no door closed in front of him nor Lucy stuff being tossed at his face. Those were things to be grateful for. No matter what she did in reaction, he would tell her how he felt and make it go into her thick mind. She was surely gonna try and make it slip as if it was a joke, so he had to make clear he was serious and he wanted her with all he had; his heart, his body, his dragon soul, everything he was and would be. That's why, when the light stomps in his direction stopped, presenting the blonde princess in all the magesty of her heart piyamas, he couldn't help but smile... He had to smile now; there was no guarantee that he would get to smile after this talk.

* * *

><p>Yeah, I know chapter five is short but I think the things that needed to happen, actually happened so it's pretty much alright. I like Lisanna's positive outlook, even if it feels like part of my imagination on the character :D<p>

Wish you enjoyed ! Chapter six will be the last chapter and I'm not sure if I'm gonna do any epilogue or side story... I will think about it when I'm finished with that last one XD

Ambitious Rookie.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Final Chapter**

"W-..." Lucy started, then stopping and leaving Natsu's anxiety growing bigger incide his heart as he waited; his head torturing him with "_you've gotta say it, you've gotta say it",_ making it difficult for him to '_wait for the right moment'._ Luckily, Lucy spoke before he succumbed to the insisting voice in his head. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU IDIOT?" She shouted.

Okay, for a start... this doesn't seem to be something to be called '_lucky'_.

The fire dragon slayer and former fire dragon felt like taking at least one step back, but resumed to lower his head a bit in response to the blonde's tone and aggressiveness. Clearly she was mad at him and wasn't in a good mood nor nearing one, but, strangely, Natsu KNEW why she might be angry, which was a completely new feeling he couldn't quite describe... Still, to him, he had done the best he could. To be sincere, he had been using his brain a WHOLE lot after remembering their past and had thought of numerous options on how to act after that. Locking himself up had been the best one in his mind because he was utterly confused by the sudden regain of the memories from a life before the one he is living right now. While we are at it, was he supposed to go tell her he had been a dragon in one of their former lives, many, many years ago, and she had been a princess? Oh, well, maybe she would have believed that, but what face would she make when he told her the dragon, him, had completely fallen in love with the princess and looked for her in each new life he lived, even when he didn't remember her? And that he, NATSU, LISANNA'S BOYFRIEND, loved her... now? It was meant to be a disaster. Lucy would knock him down for being as stupid as to confess to her during a relationship with someone else. Plus, what had she told him she was dealing with unrequited love for if he ignored it without giving it three minutes of thought? Did he want Lucy to tell him _"I love _X_" _right to his face? Could he be able to deal with that without hurting (seriously hurting) anyone? No, sure he couldn't and he would sulk lower than ever in depression for acting stupidly and recieving an answer he couldn't handle.

"I mean..." Lucy shook him out of his thoughts starting to talk again. "What the hell...? Um..." She tried asking again but hesitated and looked to the ground. Natsu, confused, stared at her, realising her frustration as she searched for something in her mind.

After some seconds, she sighed and sat down cross-legged on the street with a calm expression. She then looked up to the boy in front of her.

"Sorry, let's try it again, okay?" She said while putting on a serene smile.

Surprise invaded Natsu's eyes but he still moved to sit in front of her when she gestured for him to do so.

Natsu continued to stare at her; now that the voice in his head had shut up, time wasn't such a terrifying thing and let him wait to see what Lucy wanted. The blonde merely looked at the boy's hands in silence.

Natsu would look at his hands and then back to the girl's eyes to come back to his hands again, and, because he looked in her eyes when something touched his hand, it took him completely unprepared, and the surprise he felt became bigger when he saw her fingers gently touching the back of his palm. He looked at the girl's eyes again and found her gaze directed at him; a calm but serious look in her eyes.

As Natsu was too surprised to even gape, Lucy looked at his hands again as she brought her other hand to touch his left one. Natsu felt a cold shiver ran down his spine and his cheeks turned, most likely, the same colour as his hair; which embarassed him even more and reddened the blush strongly.

The girl's thin and soft fingers travelled down to the beginning of the boy's fingers, unaware of the intoxicating effect the touch had on the pink haired and cheeked boy. Then her thumbs slipped down the sides and pressed his palms slightly. Lucy looked at Natsu's face before slowly turning his hands, leaving the palms to face the sky.

The pink coloured face made her stare; specially because the boy's eyes remained strongly shut, as if he was restraining from doing something.

And surely enough, he was! It was specially difficult not responding to the contact with her hands. At least, holding them tight was something he wished to do. And maybe he wanted to do ever more than that... No, well, yes... No... you know what? Forget it. To be sincere Natsu hadn't gained much from isolating himself to think; HE NEVER THINKS SO MUCH! It was obvious the fear and anxiety inside him were a result of those long brain-wrecking hours. Was that all he had gained? Tormented feelings of unrequited love, words to hunt him in his sleep and fear to even get close to Lucy...?

Wait... What the HELL WAS HAPPENING TO HIM? Was he this shy? Was hi this WEAK? Ouch, he was the most pathetic man on Earth's face!

'_For God's sake, please, just, sombody tell me what I'm supposed to do now!'_

Just when his head was about to explode, his right hand collided with a different palm.

...

"Hand sandwich!" Lucy smiled cheery.

Natsu spent a~~~ll the time he had never put to anything just to move his head down and look with big opened eyes at his hand in between Lucy's. His head involuntarily inclined to the left and he stayed silent wondering what had just happened.

"That means I'm winning," Lucy continued with a wide grin on her face, looking right at Natsu, whose head moved upwards instantly hit by a horrible fact: he was LOSING at SOMETHING (whatever that was).

Head and eyes came down to take the situation in somehow and act so that the counter would turn immediately and he could be sure he won.

His eyes wandered between each of the three hands pilled one over the other into a shape that somehow looked like a hamburguer, without catching what he was supposed to do to turn the numbers, until Lucy's hand, on top of his, moved to his left, stopping on his same side palm.

Now he could see how she had done a 'hand sandwich'. Her right hand was on top of his left one and his right one on top of her other hand, so, that meant, to entrap Lucy's hand he just needed to move his right hand to his left one, leaving Lucy's in between...

Don't hesitate to think he immediately put theory to practice, hitting Lucy's hand in between his'. Focused on winning at all costs, his green orbs looked up into the girl's face to find her looking back at him with a smile on her face and loving eyes... or what he thought Lucy's '_loving eyes'_ would look like.

Calmly and delicately, Lucy brought her right palm to her left palm, dragging Natsu's hand in the process and, once again, entrapping it in a delicate wrap... that kept looking like a sandwich/hamburguer/,youknow?

Lucy's hand made it's way back to Natsu's left one and she stared into his eyes defiantly. Oh, Natsu was so getting the competition in all this... and he liked it. He grinned along with furrowed eyebrows in response and his right hand made it's way to his left one to put the score at 2-2.

But something failed.

He registered the impact against his left hand, both through his eyes and touch. His eyes searched forward for Lucy's hand, the hand that was supposed to be in between them. He finally caught the true essence of the game when he saw Lucy's hand had moved awway from beneath his' before he could catch it. So that was the way to prevent the other from making more points...

His green orbs travelled rapidly to her brown ones just in time to witness the blonde's sneering grin along with a "Hmph!" sound. He pulled a toothy grin in reply.

"Now I'm completely pumped!" He shouted as both youngters prepared to start the real game.

* * *

><p>Constant slaps resonated one after the other fiercely. To anyone, it would seem like some guy was seriously getting the crap beat out of him by his furious girlfriend... more like <em>girlfriends<em> for the speed and number og slaps being delivered consecutively. The ones imagining all this weren't having a 'nice' time deciding if going out of their homes was safe, while the ones passing by the scene decided that being home at that moment seemed like heaven; anything instead of passing by the boy strangely dressed and the heart payama girl furiously slapping each other's hands in a manner that seemed incomprehensible but was much simpler than any passer-by believed.

"Aaaah!" the blond girl shouted and sighed at the same time, taking her now red hands away from the boy. "Enough already," she declared, moving the hurt hands in the air above her, trying to keep them out of the boy's reach. Ignoring the surprise and protest unspoken but filling Natsu's features, the blonde let herself fall backwards into the ground closing her eyes.

Natsu smiled out of seeing her so relaxed and then motioned forward to lay on the ground. He rapidly crawled his way to the girl's side and continued to smile brightly as protests came out of his mouth, simply trying to tease her.

Lucy became more desperate with each passing second and turned on herself, delivering a death blow right to Natsu's head from the ground. Fury chirped in her eyes, but Natsu looking her in the eye and pouting, was all it took for her to smile lovingly and laugh. And it only took Lucy to laugh to make Natsu laugh with her.

"You haven't changed much," Lucy said calmly after the laughter had died. Natsu looked her in the eyes just to gain a pink blush in response to the sweet smile she dedicated him. "I'm..." she started saying while rolling her body towards Natsu's side and bringing a hand to touch his cheek, "...sorry I didn't remember who you were before."

Natsu felt something burning inside him while looking into those lovely eyes; he could see in them that Lucy wasn't telling him everything on her mind.

The boy's hand took hold of the girl's.

"Lucy, you know...? There's something that I-"

"Hey!" A familiar voice called, interrupting him. His scent punched Natsu immediately; it had been there for about five minutes as the black haired gut made it's way to the guild and to them, finally making this awful meeting time happen because Natsu had been too distracted to give his nose enough attention before talking. The groaned displeased as the stripper came closer and Lucy greeted him without failing to notice Natsu's anger.

"Gray, good morning," she had said.

The boy stopped two steps away from them, realising the scene was a bit off and Natsu's face showed he was pissed, "Wait- What are you guys doing laying down in the hard ground... and why is Lucy in her payamas?" Gray asked confused.

"Me in my payamas isn't as weird as you half naked Gray, please put some clothes on," Lucy retorted immediately while sighing.

"Wha- When did this happen?" Gray shouted surprised.

Lucy just couldn't avoid laughing at the boy's constant unawareness of his own nudity. "How can you not realise when you're stripping?" You must lose so many clothes!" She continued to laugh, cluching her stomach.

"Well, it's not like clothes are that important anyway," Gray mumbled as a pink blush extended through his cheeks, fact that a certain pink haired idiot didn't like too much, not to mention he was already angry at the ice mage.

"_Fuck off_, ice brain! Go lose clothes somewhere else!" Natsu yelled, glaring at the mentioned guy.

"What the hell? YOU fuck off, dumbass! Nobody talked to you!"

"I don't need you to give me permission to KICK YOUR ASS OUTTA HERE!"

"And what makes you think you can actually do that? You flame bastard!"

"DUH, fire winning over ice is just logical thinking, froze ass."

"Who the hell did you hear that from? That's CRAP."

Lucy facepalmed herself in response to the stupid arguement. "Oh come on!" She shouted and both boys looked at her, stopping for a moment. Lucy's face was serious... until her low lip pulled out a bit in a pout gesture and she said, "water would win both fire and ice over!" to which both guys immediately retorted with their own opinions.

Gray took seat on the floor next to the other two after 20 minutes of non-stopped discussion. It just didn't seem to go anywhere; none of their reasons for stating water, fire or ice would win made sense for the other two people in the discussion. The only thing to actually be thankful about was that it hadn't turned into a fist fight yet.

"Let's put it into practice! Whether ice will win ot fire will kick it's ass."

I just HAD to say ther was no fighting, right?

"Agreed, ash brain. Your fire will get frozen in an instant."

"WAIT!" Lucy shouted and both guys thought Lucy's 'stop-bothering-me' speech was about to begin, but... "For water to participate we would need Juvia here!"

"There's no time to go to the gui-" Gray started saying.

"Juvia is here!" a blushing Juvia shouted excitedly (but still with a somehow serious face) while jumping out of some bushes.

"All right! I'm all fired up!"

"What may you four be doing?" a femeninfe and beautiful voice asked from behind Lucy's back, but contrary to what the description might make normal people believe, everyone of the four present became stony stiff and the just-about-to-begin fight seemed like the worst plan of action ever crossing their minds.

"E-Erza!..." Natsu stutteredas he took some nervous steps away from her and nearer Gray.

"We are not doing anything!" Gray replied as his arm hanged over Natsu's shoulder and he did the same. "We are just all..."

"Playing a hame!" Natsu cried out, catching on Gray's sentence and, or course, onventing the end.

"What game?" the Titania asked. _Damn._

"W-well..." Gray blurted out involuntarily. That would surely make her suspect!

A red eyebrow lifted delicately as the re-head's ayes narrowed on them.

"E-Erza, let me show you!" Lucy suddenly screamed desperately as she took Natsu's hands and positioned them...

* * *

><p>"HAND SANDWICH! HAHA!" Natsu shouted in glee as the blonde winced with pain. Why, why, oh, why did he had to slap her hand so hard?<p>

"I'm really gonna kick your ass later, Natsu! And I'm not talking about a rematch!"

"There's still lots of time until later, Luce, maybe I will convince you outta that idea...?" He asked, smiling.

"No way in hell," was the unshakable answer.

Laughter and conversation invaded the air of the streer they were spending their morning at. First, it had been Erza who sat in the floor with them to challenge them on this so unfamiliar game the Heartfillia heiress had come up with, but, as minutes passed by and they enjoyed the competition more and more, Elfman, on his way to the guild, saw them and stopped. Macao came not long after that and, almost behind him, Cana appeared. After all, they were playing some strangely looking game (if it could be called that for how it looked like when they slapped their hands hard and past until they turned red and even further) in many guild members' way to the guild, so it wasn't rare to think... they would want to join.

Almost half of the guild was there, sitting in a circle, laughing and playing, if not more of them. As time went by, the game's rules had become more competitive too; right then, when somebody got slapped once, he/she was out of tha game until the round ended with only one victorious mage left, and they were all enjoying it. Lucy hadn't laughed and been so hapy since what felt like years when it had only been almost two months at most since Lisanna and Natsu had gotten together, making her days sadder and let's try not to talk about him confining himself...

Everything felt forgotten, completely in the past and Lucy's chest felt so light! She could be sincere to her feelings, to herself and to others, and she could now DECIDE to STAY SILENT, not be forced to remain silent and feel hurt ahout it: if she felt like it, she could tell the wind and the trees her secret with serenity for the first time.

"Lucy!" a man called her, as she was not in that round anymore, the same as him. Macao gestured for her to come nearer and grinned friendly. Lucy grinned back as she moved to sit in front of him and Cana, who was, as usual, holding some alcohol close. "Have you heard?" he asked in between joy, sadness and surprise.

Lucy tilted her head to the side in a questioning manner as sje asked, "about what?"

"Um..." Macao started, giving a few short glances around and slightly leaning forward to whisper to her. "It's about Natsu and Lisanna."

The blonde was surprised to hear their names suddenly emerge from what seemed like nowhere and also to the sudden WORRY that seemed to turn over inside her chest. Had something happened...?

She rapidly turned her head to look in Natsu's direction and, finding him grinning and laughing, her heart calmed down a little and she slowly turned back to Macao. With Natsu acting so normal, there was probably nothing wrong between him and Lisanna, so she decided to continue listening to ther friend.

"Well, actually I'm not sure I should be telling you this, child..." Macao said before starting to drift off to wonder on his own. Lucy didn't move an inch as her body was under high pressure caused by the nerves and stress. Cana, sat to the man's left, tapped her fingers against her bottle, waiting for Macao to _damn_ say it at once.

The beautiful, dark heaired woman wasn't known for mastering patience, actually, maybe quite the opposite, and it took her just one or two minutes to hit Macao on the head and push him back to take the conversation on her hands.

"They broke up." She said, trying no to shout and eyeing Natsu an instant to make sure he hadn't accidentally heard her. When her eyes darted back to Lucy's face, the blonde's body continued to be as stiff as before, but it was now accompanied by big wide eyes and tighly clenched teeth behind her pink smooth lips.

Cana stared at her face not giving the slightest chance to any changes in it to escape her eye. Lucy's face almost didn't move at all, but she clenched and uncleched her teeth a bit and her pupils seemed to be there just for decoration as she obviously wasn't using them to see in front of her. She was lost in thought, and some worried, hysterical thoughts those seemed to be, Cana concluded to herself as her dark eyebrows furrowed and her lips parted to show her own cleched teeth underneath.

Lucy felt a strong grip over her shoulders and regained the use of her eyes as she was pulled back to reality rather suddenly. The blonde's eyes showed her desperation in response to the grave information now in her mind. Cana was fiercely staring at her.

"DON'T PANIC." The woman with furrowed eyebrows said almost as if it was an order.

Lucy raised a questioning eyebrow before realising she was shaking brusquely. Her eyes directed to her own hands to see them trembling and then came back to the woman in front of her, feeling her heart pounding too fast for confort.

"Calm down Lucy. I will tell you anything you need to know, but first calm down."

Cana didn't remove her hands until Lucy had stopped shaking and was breathing normally. Her eyes fixed on the blond kid and finally, sometime later, the girl looked her in the eye again, ready to get some guestions out.

"When...?"

"This morning." Cana interrupted her, already knowing the entire question.

"Wh-?" Lucy's eyes widened once more and she turned her head in Natsu' direction. He looked so fine! "How...? How can that be? He is laughing and smiling, Cana! What the hell?" the blonde snapped, using her arms and body to enphasize her words.

Cana took a glance on Natsu to make sure he wasn't eavesdropping on them.

"They talked it out together and both agreed to break up," Cana explained.

"But that can't be! They love each other, don't they?" Lucy nearly screamed, making Elfman (next to them) turn but then shrug and turn back. Cana gave another intelligent glance in Natsu's direction to see the fire dragon slayer looking at Lucy from afar.

Cana cursed inwardly before smiling at the boy now looking at her and forming a circle with her fingers to inform him everything was just fine. The boy smiled and went back to the game, but Cana lowered her voice when talking again to make it harder for him to listen on them; he was sure to do so now that he was alert on Lucy to see if something was happening or not.

"Lucy, I'm sure you know it by now," the woman said as a smile formed on her face. "The heart changes, it's not something you can fight, even if it hurts. Natsu and Lisanna took this decision together and are glad to have talked it out. They might feel hurt right now, but if they didn't feel the same anymore and still stayed together, things would have turned out worse."

Lucy stared at the woman with sadneed written all over her face. Moments later her gaze fell to the ground.

"Will... Natsu be suffering then?" the blond girl whispered.

"Maybe," Cana answered with a smile. "Why? Are you worried?"

Brown orbs slowly directed back to the dark haired woman.

"Yes," she responded and Cana's smile became wider... warmer... and Lucy found herself shily smiling back as her cheeks turned a soft colour of pink.

Two slim and strong arms encircled the blond girl in a warm hug and her face mlushed ever more as she retuned it giggling and thanking the sweet woman for always being around to help her when she needs it.

"Lucy... you too have the right to love and want to be happy. Listen to your heart too and make your own decisions thoughtfully." Tightening the hug, Cana finished with a "I wish you luck". She could feel the blonde sobbing against her chest and gripping her clothes.

"Thank you..." she said smiling, "I really love you, thanks a lot."

Lucy continued to cry and laugh for quite a while and Cana hugged her and rubbed her back, conforting her. Natsu smiled when he looked at them and decided to not interfere as they seemed to be just fine by themselves, even though he didn't know what they had been talking about and Lucy was definitely crying.

When her tears stopped, Lucy looked at her surroundings and...

"What? Only Erza and Natsu are left?" She shouted as everybody else was already out of that round. "Who will I cheer for now...?" She almost laughed while thinking about it and stood up to go near them.

Cana lazily followed the blonde's figure walk away with her eyes in a daze.

"Are you sure telling her was the right decision?"

The woman smiled, not needing to turn and look at Macao to know what his face looked like at that moment. She put one hand on her pocket and took out a deck of cards. Her hands cut the deck in different places, shuffling the cards together, and then grabbed three cards and, organicing them one beside the other in the same order she had touched them, she flipped them upwards and Macao waited, unable to form an idea of what she would be seing in those drawings and numbers that seemed so simple and vague.

Then she hummed a note and the man grinned and laughed after seing Cana's grinning face. This woman never does things if she's not sure, asking had been completely unnecessary.

* * *

><p>The entire morning passed by as half the guild played the 'hand sandwich' game in the middle of the street. It would have taken even longer to finish if it wasn't because everybody was hungry and wanted to eat that instant and decided it was already time to get going.<p>

It was surprising for those in the guild when half the members entered through the doors all together, walking and laughing, specially a little group in which center stood a blonde girl with sweet smile being hugged and teased by those who walked near her.

Scarlet hair danced with the wind beside her, acompanied by a calm smile on it's owner's face. The beautiful woman walked silently next to the blonde (this one too being a beauty) glancing at her like best (_girl_) friends do as a pink haired, loud voiced, guy hanged an arm over the girl's shoulder, making her stumble while walking. It was obvious he was doing it on purpose, but neither the teen girl nor the woman seemed to mind it. A black haired guy on the red-head's right would smile and walk while saying the exact same things the woman would have, leaving her at ease as she glaced in his direction with a smile and he shily returned it to her everytime. The hot headed guy would snap at the ice mage with each comment but not let go of the blonde, and a blue winged cat would rest on this same girl's head as she lost and regained balance every few minutes. It was clear that if it wasn't for the blonde this strange group of people wouldn't be getting along so well now adays and a blue eyed girl smiled at the scene silently looking at it from her sit at the bar, close to her silver haired sister.

* * *

><p>Natsu let his head hang low to make it even harder for the girl to walk.<p>

"Luce~~, I'm hu~~~ngry..." he said as he smiled widely, knowing that she wouldn't be able to see his face from that angle.

"Natsu~~~, you're so~~ heacy~~..." she said in response as a vein popped in her forehead and hes eyes started to show her anger along with the bitter tone in her voice. Between lines, you could read how she was actually turning into the '_evil Lucy_' and little was left for the transformation to be complete...

The dragon slayer arched his back forward, pulling the blonde and becoming even more of a burden on her by putting more of his weight over her shoulder.

"I'm so hungry I don't have enough strenght to walk by myself," he said playfully.

Lucy's transformation seemed to be completed as she snapped and pulled Natsu up, starting to shake him with mad eyes. "AS IF I CARE!" she screamed at him.

Natsu slipped his arm off of Lucy's shoulder, his weight making him fall to the ground and slipping out of her grasp too. Immediately, her shot up and started running to the bar, dodging the blonde's tackle in his direction. He laughed hysterically as the distance grew wider.

"Come back here, you idiot!" the blonde shouted before running after him. She wasn't about to let him have his way into teasing her all day long hust because she was madly in love with him! And that was a secret anyway so she didn't need to show it ALL the time.

The scarlet haired woman followed her two friends with her eyes.

"They seem to be getting along just fine again," Gray said right next to her, stealing the words out of her mouth as if he was able to read her mind. She looked at him like she had done before with each of the nice guy's comments and smiled, slowly closing her eyes and letting her lips grow farther away from each other, showing her white teeth and a glimse of her tongue as she laughed.

"Yes, they are, thankfully."

The boy blushed, lost in her beautiful smile. Then the woman stopped laughing, still smiling, took a glance of her two friends now sitting at the bar bickering at each other, and then glaced back at the black haired ice mage. She took a step closer to him and dropped an arm over his shoulders, pulling him to walk with her in their dense friends' direction. Yes, as if she wasn't as dense as them bby not noticing her companions blush and fast heart beat pace.

* * *

><p>"Okay Natsu, tell me just one thing, <em>one little, insignificant, dumb thing;"<em> the blonde started, already completely pissed off and drained out of energy by the fire eater, "is it funny bothering me?" she asked.

"No!" the guy answered and Lucy's eyes widened and her head moved up a bit as if suddenly light had been lit in her heart... something like...'hope'! "What's funny is teasing you, Luce!" he continued, making the just encountered hope into nothing.

The girl slumped over the table, slamming her head on her own arms and hiding her face in between them.

"I hate you..." she murmured and the guy smiled bitterly but playfully at the same time, knowing it wasn't out of true hate that she said it but merely anger.

He closed the gap between them in one swift movement and whispered something in her ear to which she didn't react on purpose... opting on waiting and thinking about it for a bit...

"_I don't."_

After some minutes, Lucy pulled her head up along with her upper body, leaving her hands to lean over the table as she stared at them. She slowly moved her head to Natsu's side, locking their eyes together, sharing a serious look.

They remained like that for a few seconds until Lucy opened her mouth to talk.

"Natsu, I-"

"You two..." someone interrupted her and the girl wrinkled her nose in obvious irritation as her determination on trying to confess her feelings went to waste and slipped away of her grasp, very, very far away.

The four orbs moved slowly to look at the silver haired woman looking back at them from the other side of the bar table.

"Hi, Mira," Lucy greeted with a hardly pulled smile that became less tense as seconds went by and the woman smiled back and...

"Lucy!" she cried turning her gaze from her to Natsu without stopping the tears from falling down. "Natsu!"

She probably wasn't able to see a thing anymore through those thick water drops rolling down her face. This was what made Lucy's irritation fade away as if the wind had blown it off without her realising.

"You are... finally... friends again, right?" the woman cried in the mids of laughter as her wet hands from trying to wipe her tears grabbed one of each teen's hands.

They looked at her wide eyed until a funny air sound came out of Natsu's mouth to immediately turn into an outburst of laughter he just couldn't control. Lucy turned his way with incredulous eyes as she smacked him on the holder with her free hand.

"Don't laugh like that! She's showing she was worried about us and you laugh at her? Stop!" she screamed as a thick red blush extended across her face.

The pink haired boy actually TRIED to go along the blonde's wishes but even by blocking his mouth with his hand, he couldn't stop howling as strongly.

"You..." Lucy mumbled, starting to curse him under her breath. "LEARN HOW TO BE RESPECTFUL TO OTHERS, YOU IDIOT!" she screamed while delivering a descendant blow to his head.

The boy yelled with pain and brought his elbows to rest on the table as he held his head in between his hands.

"Luce! You are so mean!" Natsu cried out.

"You two are best friends again it seems! It took you so long I..." Mirajane mumbled as lettle tears continued to roll down her face, much smalled than the ones from minutes ago. "You can finally talk to each other again?" she asked innocently.

_Talk._

That word remained in Lucy's mind for some minutes as Natsu and Mirajane entusiastically chated on them being _BEST FRIENDS_ again...

Talk.

Yes, talk.

That was it... That was it! Finally she was sure. Finally she had the confidence to talk.

"Now that you mention it," Lucy said, involuntarily interrupting Natsu and Mirajane and making them look her way. Her face showed her determination on... something. What? They didn't know and that was exactly what made a slight bit of fear appear in their hearts. "I have things I want to talk about with Natsu." She finished, looking the mentioned guy in the eye. Natsu couldn't do a thing else than staring back at her dumbfounded.

"Yeah..." He replied after a long time, but a confused look in his face gave out he didn't quite know what she meant.

Lucy giggled. "Follow me fire eater," she said before standing up from her stool and walking away.

* * *

><p>Trees stood all around them as Lucy led the way through the forest of Magnolia. Neither of them said a word and silence floated around them acompanying the wind. Her slender, pale fingers brushed those lucky trees near her with delicate movements of her hand, caresing them as if she had known them before and was greeting them one more time after many, many years. Because she was doing exactly that. Greeting old friends of her first trip alone through the forest. That first trip to lead her to the fire breathing beast that was sure to kill her-<p>

The princess turned and looked behind her... and smiled at her most precious friend who had never hurt her but had always healed her with his smile.

The dragon was the princess' only friend and loved one.

Natsu was Lucy's best friend and loved one.

It was time to tell this loving best friend that never left her side (each time they met) how she felt.

She turned around again and continued walking and Natsu to follow. He felt the familiarity of that place from when he was a dragon but, at the same time, he knew Magnolia for being Natsu and knew where they were heading to. Still, he wouldn't dare pull a catch me joke when he was actually admiring Lucy's delicate self from behind as she took carefully chosen steps and thanked the trees she leaned on for support. To think, once, he had put a hand (a claw) on her, trying to kill her... He never expected her to become so important in his life and neither did he expect to meet again and pull her close without even remembering her. When had he actually fallen in love with Lucy? Maybe he would never know but he was sure he wouldn't be able to live on without her.

Lucy never took a wrong step or said a word along the way but she did think and her thoughts all went about the _dragon-and-boy_ then following her, reaching the same conclusion every few minutes and in between memories. These three words she hadn't ever told him repeated themselves in her mind holdheartedly and, subconsciously, she let that message out every time she looked at the ground to step and smiled, and every time she touched a tree to lean subtly on it, and every time she looked at the sky, for a moment stopping and then starting to march again. And Natsu would take the message in, out of pure instinct, not being able to erase the new calm and peaceful sensation growing inside his heart as the place got filled with little whispers of Lucy's voice, created by his head, saying 'I love you' with every touch, 'I love you' with every look, 'I love you' with every smile.

And with those three words invading their minds, they reached their destination. The trees proyected shadows over ther ground and the slightly waved water, product of the wind blowing over it. Light iluminated those places where shadows couldn't reach, giving those parts of the water glitter and shine.

Lucy took some more steps froward, closer to the lake's shore and smiled again, opening her arms at the sight and stretching.

"It hasn't changed much, don't you think?" she asked when she was finished, grabbing her left wrist with her right hand behing her back.

"Yeah," Natsu answered looking around. "To think this place is now part of that sheltered village from years ago..." he continued, trailing off at the end.

"Yes... Magnolia sure has grown..." the girl agreed looking at those dancind trees she knew so much. "You know... when I first came here I went through that same path..." the girl said, turning around and pointing behind him. "It was the first time I was on a journey alone and I was so happy..." she giggled, "I was such a thick headed girl! Completely stubborn! Unaware of the world and dangers around me," she said as her gaze went to the pink haired boy to stay on him. "Meeting you changed me back then, because you taught me about danger and about having a friend. And, the second time we mer, now, you changed my life completely and took me in your family, the guild."

A sweet smile drove it's way to both of their faces and Natsu then grinned and snorted a bit.

"Jeez, Lucy, you make it seem as if I made you who you are or something," he said, blushing a tint of pink. Laughter came out of his mouth every few seconds as he tried to stop it and blushed even more.

Well, you know, seing Natsu blush was pretty cute and all, but Lucy was starting to get irritated at his obvious lack of romanticism, or was it just that teasing her really WAS funny?

The girl blushed a bit embarrased and starting to feel afraid too. If he laughed when she said 'I love you' she was going to kill him with no mercy. Take her word. She is capable of it.

She cleared her throat eyeing the dragon stayer. The boy opened his eyes and directed them at her and, as if he had remembered what ha was supposed to do before (let's say... telling her something full of fluff for example?) he stopped laughing and smiled from ear to ear as he walked steadily towards her until they were seven feet away from each other. No, five feets away, but no, then he took more steps... well, maybe that was a foot distance between them?

If the sud hadn't been were it was, Natsu's shadow would have proyected over Lucy's head as he inclined his own head forward and grinned at her brightly.

The blush still ocuppying Natsu's cheeks distracted Lucy pretty much A LOT and she never expected him to...

Push her into the water.

The dragon slayer laughed hysterically at her SHOCKED expression and the fact that she wouldn't move at all. Her heart patern pants were soaked because she had landed on her butt not even reacting to pull her hands backwards and try to break the fall (as if she could). She gaped like a fish as the boy behaved just like the dragon.

Teasing her had to be god damn funny because he was about to die for doing it.

A vein popped on Lucy's forehead as she closed her eyes and started to **strongly** rub her temples. Natsu felt the murdering intent she wasn't being able to suppress and his laughter died immediately. Specially when Lucy snapped her eyes open and glared at him practically saying 'you are my next prey' and Natsu re~~~~~ally thought...

'_I'm dead.'_

His feet fought to move away from there but Lucy stepped before they did and her body fell over him with a jump.

Her glare was intense and her cleched teeth showed clearly. It lasted too long for Natsu's confort but, after some minutes, she closed her eyes and wrinkled her nose. Her eyebrows remained furrowed but when she opened her eyes again she wasn't glarind so harshly anymore. She seemed to try to unfurrow them but her anger prevented her from doing so and, finally, she grumbled and her head fell and bumped against Natsu's chest. He didn't move... but that was pertty nerve wracking for the enamored teen and the blush gave it away... but Lucy didn't see it.

After a pair of minutes, the Celestial Spirit mage lifted her head again with a determined look. "I lo- !" she managed to say before a high pithced voice resonated through the clear.

"Natsu~~!" a flying blue cat called. Natsu turned his head backwards and Lucy jumped up just before Happy appeared, not wanting to hear his usual '_she lllllikes youuu'_ anytime soon.

"Happy!" Natsu greeted, sitting up and turning to face him. The blue cat smiled and then, checking the perimeter, saw Lucy and flew to her chest, making her instinctively wrap her arms around him. "Lucy~~! You're here too!" he shouted into her breasts. She sighed tiredly but then s smile formed on her face and she patted the cat's head. "Hi, Happy," she greeted.

Ther was no need to hurry anyway. She could tell Natsu those three words anytime, right? Well, yes, it's true it was quite dangerous to leave such a hottie single for too long because anybody could try to take him... but Lucy wouldn't let that much time pass before confessing. She would use every chance possible! Yes! She would confess and make him love her! Hooray for positive thinking!

* * *

><p>"Lu~~~ce, you didn't need to still kick me about throwing you into the lake... you are me~~~an!" Natsu whined, holding a mug or fire whisky in his left hand and looking at his partner, sat right beside him at the bar.<p>

"I had to do an extra trip back home and change before coming to the guild again so they wouldn't think I peed myself or something," Lucy retorted, thanking the fact that Natsu didn't realise she was going to go back and change out of her payamas before going to the guild anyways... and pissed, but pissed because he had done something so stupid and ruined all the romantic mood around them when she was about to confess.

"I tried to acompany you as an apology!" the pink haired boy insisted.

"Do you think I would change knowing you're at my house?" she asked irritated starting to sip her dring down.

Happy giggled. "Lucy is having perverted thoughts..." he said, making her choke.

"Oh... were you Luce? I didn't know you would perv over me..."

"No, I wouldn't!" the blonde shouted blushing.

"Lucy, you perv!" the boy screamed delighted by the blonde's immediate protest and thick blush.

Natsu wouldn't stop pestering her about the topic so, finally, Lucy decided to ignore him and let him say whatever he felt like saying as her thick red blush coloured her cheeks.

"Hey Natsu," a female voice suddenly called the boy and Lucy prepared her ear to aevesdrop surrepticiously. "Don't you think Lucy might like you?" Mirajame asked the pink haired boy and Lucy almost fell down from her seat. She looked at Mira with a MORE THAN WORRIED look but the silver haired woman didn't even bat an eyelid in her direction, carrying out her own hidden mission.

Natsu's laughter brought her out of her stuppor and made her look at him, not knowing if she was supposed to be afraid or at ease. "It would be nice if that was true 'cause I love her!" he said non-chalantly.

. . .

"WHAT?"

The world seemed to turn to look at Lucy after she shouted that one word, pulling herself closer to Natsu than she actually realised. Natsu just cheekily grinned and she stared confused as if she understood what was happening but at the same time she didn't. She then backed down again and slowly turned on her stool to stare at the bar table.

After some minutes she suddenly snapped her head in Natsu's direction again.

"I love you too!" she practically yelled, feeling her cheeks burning. Silence strucked the always noisy fire mage and the blonde felt the necessity to continue talking. "I have loved you since a long time ago!"

This comment seemed to snap him out of it. "Are you joking? Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked irritated.

Lucy's jaw dropped. "Are YOU joking? I TRIED!"

"When?"

"At the lake?"

Silence once more formed between them until the dragon slayer facepalmed himself. "Damn... I'm such a dork," he said

"You finally realise it!" another male voice resonated through the guild.

"Ice freak, don't come meddle in this," the pink haired boy ordered the other man but he didn't give a damn about his comment as he walked up to them from where he had been sitting with Erza and put his arm around Lucy's shoulder. "Lucy, knowing this idiot, he will probably make you break up with him in less than two days. If that happens we could go on a date, don't you th-? OUCH!" Gray shouted as a fireball hit him straight in the face and his arm was shoved away with a brusque movement, courtesy of Natsu. When the ice mage looked up again, he fell in a deep hole of surprise as he saw Natsu holding Lucy in his arms and sitting her on his lap. He directed him an icy glare that, at the same time, seemed to be on fire.

"You are banned from touching her," the fire eater declared not letting go of the surprised girl.

"You joking?" Gray finally retorted some seconds later. "She is my friend! There's no way you can decide if I can touch her or not!"

"You pervert! Don't talk like that about my girlfriend!" Natsu roared.

"Since when exactly am I his girlfriend?" Lucy mumbled not expecting the two fighting idiots to hear her (thing they didn't do, in fact). A big smile formed on her face anyway as a blush extended through her cheeks.

"You lllllike him!" Happy teased her with a smirk.

A heavy sigh escaped Lucy's lips, but immediately later she looked at Happy and grinned toothily. "Yes!"

* * *

><p><strong>ALL RIGHT!<strong> Finally the story is finished... or isn't it? I want to tell everyone I'm planning on doing a "epilogue" made of a series of short stories that are part of the story, moments that weren't yet told :D hehe

Like, like!

Sorry about the ortographic mistakes in this chapter. I didn't check every part of it.

And sorry it's so long too :D

Special thanks to **inuyashabooklover5188**,** akane1chan**,** BlueeMoon**, **Gunpowder Cookies**, **phoenixflamemarauder**,** LianneCherrie-Angel**, **ShiningStellar**, **Chocopipe**, **The Midnight Shadow Star**,** Star2Moon24**, **AllyRaeSayers**, **Senbei x Cup Ramen**, **Romance Diaries** or **||V LULUANGELkiss V|| **who I think wight be the same person... **kpopgurl88**, **Shukei Hakuteiken**,** DayDreamerJxD**,** TheLighterBlonde**, **Ree-Vance**, **Mynameiseliza**, **Footster26**, **Elemental Dragon Slayer**, **BananaManiaBubblegum**, **ningyobaka**, **Luce123456**, **Watashi wa Tsuki-San**, **OrigamiFolder**, **xRavenxKuranx**, **The Shojo Otaku Writer**,** Mikazuki Mitsukai**,** KaHh xD**, **xFatee**, **Lucy Kawaii Chan**, **FloraFaveXNara_Wire**, **candy mountaain**,** Lloigor**, **songhain**, **mysterywriter2418**,** Astrella Lynn Kurosaki**, **Kelley Spalsh**, **kimiko888**,** shootingstars_11**, **KaUiA**, **LaLaLand-SweetDreams**, **Alsarnia**, **yconne**,** NaLu Seirei**,** Evelin Chan**,** MewAqua1**, **MashiroLOVE**,** grayscandie **and** alexgrace123** for reviewing, adding this story to their favorites, story alerts and/or adding me to their favorite authors or author alerts! It's an honour! :D

Thanks a lot for reading this story. This is the end but those extra stories have got me really pump up too!

Hugges!

Ambitious Rookie.


	7. Epilogue

** Okay, **this is the last of the last. Warmth is finished. This epilogue is the longest epilogue you or I have ever seen, I know, but it's because it's made of seven extra stories that explain things that happened but were unsaid or expand our view on some characters. **Please don't try reading the stories in a different order. It goes like this. **It somehow gives coherence to the whole epilogue.

Well, I wish you like it and take your time. I think there are some that haven't finished chapter 6 yet, for these two are fucking long! Soooorry! Hahaha, I really enjoyed writing this story and thanks to everyone that read it and to everyone that may read it in the future.

**DISCLAIMER (applies to all the story): I don't own Fairy Tail nor the characters. Just the plot of this particular story.**

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue:<strong>

**Extra stories.**

"Hey, Lucy," the pink haired boy asked as he drank the hot chocolate he had 'tried' to help the blonde make, even though he had most likely caused her more trouble than necessary.

"What is it, Natsu?" Lucy replied, sipping from her mug slowly to avoid burning her tongue with the hot liquid.

"You know... um... there's something bugging me since this morning and the moment you said you loved me... um... you see..."

Lucy observed Natsu's fidgetty form, finding it extremely interesting but she couldn't really understand what might be bugging him.

"...So... how's your unrequited love doing?" he asked scratching the back of his head and making a pretty strange face in between a pout and a nervous smile, acompanied with orbs looking somewhere else until Lucy exclaimed a weird questioning sound and he looked at her.

She couldn't believe he was asking something like that. Did he even know what he was asking?

Natsu looked at her with curious and a bit serious eyes as she backed down and smiled nervously. "What do you... mean?" she asked trying to get some distance between them.

"You know, your unrequited love! Um... the one Levy mentioned a long time ago... you don't remember?" his face was suddenly filled with a light Lucy recognised: **hope**, her little friend.

"Of course I remember!" the blonde yelled. '_Does this idiot know what he is talking about? Re~~~~ally!'_

After hearing her, the guy's face suddenly dropped. Yes, hope was like that, so fleeting, Lucy would know.

"Oh..." he said, looking utterly down.

"What's with that?" Lucy asked and Natsu's head jumped up as he moved forward, closing the gap the blonde had created between them for self-confort.

A serious look took over the normally idiotic and dense guy as he started talking.

"You think I can be fine knowing you love someone else too?" he asked with a raspy voice full of determination.

Lucy tried to back down a bit but noticed she was already on the couch's edge and Natsu's arms closed her escape ways at each side of her body. She looked back at him then, trying to understand... but it was too absurd a conversation to let her think clearly, so the only thing she could do was let out a questioning sound, pretty similar to the strange one she had emitted before.

Natsu stared at her eyes searching for answers and not finding them. "Yes," he exclaimed, "I remember clearly how you were suffering because from unrequited love! Levy said it that day! I want to know who that man is." '_I do? Really?'_

Lucy facepalmed herself. Then she looked at Natsu with a tired glare. She opened her mouth to talk, more like shout, but then she stopped and sighed angrily.

"It's not worth my time," she said and Natsu felt hope come back as he took her comment as if she had already given up on that worthless guy she had fallen for, completely mistaking the meaning behind her words.

She would take the time to tell him HE was the worthless guy responsible for her unrequited feelings some other day.

* * *

><p>Drakes were big, red dragons not able to fly but able to swim, with a special personality trait:<p>

To immediately fall in love with anything they came to like.

And, yes, this takes people into account too as the dragon realised his LOVE for the princess. It took him by surprise when he suddenly found the noisy, whimpy princess in his imaginary list of 'the most important things in life'. He loved her even more than he loved his nest? Strangely, 'yes' was the answer and, drakes having lived with their lovesickness for so long, he didn't have a choice but to accept it.

And it only took that to suddenly make him realise how much he knew about the human girl and all the things he liked about her. He even liked when she acted stubbornly and tried to bother him, ending up making him laugh harder than any other time in his life.

But something was utterly wrong with all this. What was this powerful, awesome Drake doing falling in love with a human? Was that even possible? Something just HAD to be wrong with his head. Definitely, definitely, definitely wrong.

...

The day the drake had this sudden selfdiscovery, the blonde human arrived carrying her basket with food, just like everyday, to find the dragon banging his head against a big tree that didn't seem to like it too much. He hit it repeatedly and growled as there was less damage on him than there was on the poor tree.

"Hey! What happens to you!" the princess shouted as she ran towards him. The dragon didn't look at her, in fact, he moved his ears backwards and looked the exact opposite way to immediately slump on the ground and wrap his long tail around himself.

The princess observed him surprised, never before had he acted so NOT playful and happy.

"Hey... is something the matter?" she asked softly as her hand touched his back, but the dragon moved away slightly and growled annoied at the touch.

The princess felt as if something inside her was dying at that moment. As she had never had a friend before, she didn't quite know what to do when your friends are down or angry. She would have liked to have a manual on 'how to care for your friends' to guide her step by step at that instant. But, as there was no such manual, she had to think things through on her own and it wasn't an easy task when it was her first time ever in this situation.

So, no references, correct? Out of thin air she had to interpret what was happening to him to make her friend feel better.

She sighted softly. The dragon didn't turn but he was seriously alert to the princess' every action. _Oh, yes, you llllllove heeer._

The dragon snorted at his own feelings inwardly.

The blonde girl slowly sat next to the dragon, facing his back and observing his beautiful scales.

'_What to do...'_ she wondered to herself. _'Maybe he wants me to leave him alone?'_ she rapidly and strongly shook her head. _'No, no, even if he were to want that I'm not about to let him sulk alone.' _She continued thinking as she sat more confortably. _'Talk to him and ask doesn't seem like it's gonna get me anywhere with him being so thick-headed right now,'_ she noted and rested her head on top of her right hand.

He brown orbs moved upwards and looked at the sky as a small white cloud moved slowly to her back, pushed by the wind, passing on top of them. She exhaled relaxed and let herself fall backwards softly to lay on the floor.

'_Maybe silence is okay for a while.'_

After all, there was no reason for the dragon to not have bad days like everyone else. She had bad days too. Now that I mention it...

'_That's when I write lyrics...'_ the princess thought. That always made her feel better. She had a lot of songs written by herself... Most of them were somehow depressing or full of anger and rage about her overcontrolled life, but there were also a few that had possitive messages on them and made her feel good when she sang them. _'Maybe...'_

The princess sat up again and quietly cleared her throat, and the dragon prepared his ears, expecting her to talk.

But she sang.

The dragon's ears immediately shot up and the princess laughed interrupting her own vocal introduction for a few seconds. The Drake, embarrassed, growled and pulled them down again. The princess saw it but did as if nothing had happened as she continued singing.

When the lyrics started, it once again took the dragon by surprise but he **refused** to let it show and, with great efforts, was able to stop his head from turning in the girl's direction.

As many novice lyrics, they weren't the best of the best, and she hadn't ever sang them to anyone else before so there weren't any critics to them more than the ones the princess herself made from time to time and the corrections that came from that... but it was just... perfect. The dragon hadn't ever heard something as sweet in his life. He didn't know humans had this strange ability to say so sincerely how they feel when something bad happens to them. And maybe, he thought, they weren't all able to, but this girl was...

Yes, the human girl he had fallen in love with could.

As he listened, he turned his head to her and again rested it on the ground, now facing her and looking at her with guilty eyes but still attentive to the lyrics. The girl looked in his eyes and smiled, still singing and the dragons tail moved to rest on the ground around her.

The princess smiled again, excited to be so accepted by the dragon. At that moment, she didn't notice how this gesture was as protective as it was possessive... She started to notice this things from then on, when the dragon started showing openly just how much he loved her and she began loving him back.

They never said the words 'I love you'... but at some point of their friendship... they just knew they loved each other like more than friends. They showed it to each other but it's true that, maybe, they just didn't feel completely right knowing they... could never be together...

...

"Lucy..." Natsu said one day from her couch while staring at his girlfriend reading.

"Mm?" she asked, slowly diverting her gaze from the book and looking at him.

He smiled sweetly, sweeter than any smile he had ever gave anyone.

"I'm happy I found you," he said and Lucy smiled after a few seconds.

"I am too," she said with a smile as sweet as his'.

Neither of them said it, but both of them undertood the other's message. Even though this time they could have said it with no worries, they didn't need to. They just knew it.

* * *

><p>"Mira nee-san, look at that," her only sister called for her and pointed at this specific group in between all those entering the guild together. Had they been together all morning somewhere? Such a strange sight! And let's not mention the game she missed... that was even stranger.<p>

Mirajane observed the group formed of four people and a blue flying cat immediately feeling guilty when her eyes shined and her smile spread to see Natsu and Lucy together... acting normal... She glanced at her sister and again at the two uneasy and then settled to take her sister's side and not make her unconfortable nor hurt her feelings. Mira wasn't the one that had broken with the boy she loved since the were little that same morning so she couldn't possibly imagine Lisanna's feelings when this had never happened to her. She couldn't imagine being in her shoes.

Mira was an intelligent and sensitive woman. She continued to clean mugs and do her chores as she maintained the conversation the girl seemed to had started. "Seems like they patched up their quarrel," she said seemingly distracted.

"Yeah..." the girl replied in a tone that was merely louder than a whisper.

Mira looked at her for a second and then looked at 'them' again and inwardly sighed.

"Do you think..." Lisanna started in a louder voice than before, "...that Natsu had the courage to tell her his feelings?" she asked.

Mira meditated her words as she looked at the blonde and the pink-headed guy. "I don't know... it doesn't seem to me like Lucy is acting any different and the change would definitely show on her."

Lisanna continued staring at the two as she had done since the beginning of the conversation. She was able to see their faces clearly, and she could clearly see they were happier when they were together.

No doubts there was no space for her there.

"Nee-san... would you make me a favour?" Lisanna asked. Mira looked at her slowly, trying not to show her fear to what her sister might say next... as a family member, she wouldn't refuse to help her... "What?" Mira asked, prepared to get her task.

"Help Natsu and Lucy clear their feelings. We have to make them be together!" Lisanna said with excitement invading her voice.

Joy invaded Mirajane instantly. "Yes!" she agreed fascinated and filled with emotion to see her sister accepting this two's innevitable relationship. She felt like crying out of happiness and Natsu and Lucy reached the bar and started acting the same way the used to do everyday before the boy's relationship with Lisanna exactly on time to cause Mira to reach her limits...

"Lucy! Natsu!" she yelled and cried freely.

But we already know this part. Lucy then took Natsu away leaving Mira with words stuck in her throat and a mission to accomplish. That's why, some time later, when Lucy and Natsu came back, she used a more direct tactic.

"Natsu, don't you think Lucy might like you?"

Yes, this somehow sounds like revenge and it somehow worked like revenge as Mira didn't react to Lucy's REALLY WORRIED look when she did (indeed) see it. Of course, Mira didn't expect Natsu's straight forward reply but that was what Lucy got for letting her hanging with her important mission to accomplish:

A non-romantic confession.

"Hmph!" Mira had let out while both, Natsu and Lucy were distracted with Happy and Gray.

...

That day, not much later, Lisanna walked out of the guild with tired eyes. Even after all her effort s she still couldn't look at them together for more than five minutes. Natsu looked at Lucy with such passion that it only reminded her of how he never looked at her like that and he never would do so. She couldn't control her own feelings. It tired her out to feel so... miserable.

She walked around the streets of Magnolia with no specific place to go to. Even so, she felt quite safe walking aimlessly... alone. She needed some time away from the obvious love of the newly proclaimed couple. She just needed some time alone... to calm down... but the only thing she was achieving was sulk.

Feeling more and more tired and with less and less strenght to continue thinking, she stopped walking and looked around. The river was the first thing to catch her attention so she walked and sat down on the street's edge; a cement and bricks short wall meant to prevent people from falling in.

"Young lady, be careful not to fall!" some sailors warned her, remarking the little construction's function once more. "Yes..." Lisanna let out as if answering an overprotective mother or a teacher giving her instructions on how to do things. She then stayed there looking at the water moving as they paddled into it to move their boat, creating vibrations almost not reaching her side of the shore.

She then sighed. Maybe if she forgot everything it would be better? She was starting to wonder if she would actually find someone that loved her back and that she could love as much too.

Someone she would love more than Natsu. Someone that would love her and nobody else.

She sighed again. What a fairy tales world she lived in... really...

When she was already very depressed by all this, something bumped against her side. More like it hit her, but it was too light to damage her.

When she looked, she found a piece of paper neatly folded but with it's edges tore carelessly.

She furrowed her eyebrows in a questioning manner but still took it in her hands. She turned it around two times to check if there was something written on it and then she opened it already believing there might be nothing written there either.

But, to her surprise, she was wrong.

Neat but slightly rough letters were written inside and she looked around before reading it.

Nobody was around so there was nobody looking for this paper... was it meant for her?

She directed her gaze to the white piece of page again and read inwardly.

'_Please don't be sad, you're more beautiful when you _

_smile. There's someone out there that loves you. For sure.'_

Suddenly everything fell silent. Not even birds were heard in her head.

Lisanna put a hand over her mouth and a shiver run down her body. Another one did the same as her face turned red with a cute, cute blush.

She lifted her head up from the paper and once again looked around. But this time she was trying to find something. No, someone. The one that had made her body tremble with excitement and hope.

And again, same as before, nobody was there.

She slowly returned her gaze to the paper and read it again.

A smile formed on her face and then she giggled sweetly.

"Thanks..." she said and another giggle escaped her lips with a cute smile as she swung her legs back and forth.

...

Not much later at the guild, as ever, the door opened and a member entered non-chalantly, not calling much attention, acting completely normal.

"Bixlow!" a woman shouted. The just arrived man turned to look at her and waited to see what the dark haired alcoholic wanted.

A card appeared out of nowhere and into her hand and she smashed it on the table. A little glance and she smirked, turning to face him.

"That was really nice of you, ma~~n!" she said playfully and winking an eye at him.

Suddenly Bixlow took two steps back and tried to make her say what she meant but he knew exactly what she was refering to and didn't find the words to act 'normal'. That complicity in her features gave away she knew where he had gone.

God, she knew everything! That Cana really was a witch!

He retreated rapidly towards the door again and, just in time, a little white haired girl opened it and found him.

"Hey!" Lisanna greeted animatedly

Bixlow was dumbfounded for some minutes but snapped when a "woo woo!" came out of Cana's mouth and into his ears.

With a growl, he dodged Lisanna, slightly touching her hand like who gives a greeting, and stomped away.

"Tsk, Tsk," Cana started in a low voice while holding her barrel, "love is pretty difficult, uh?" she said before lifting the barrel and drinking big, loud gulps.

...

Lisanna never forgot that little touch... for it was the beginning of something new she would have never expected.

* * *

><p>"Gray, we have to talk."<p>

That is never a good signal, specially when it comes from the red haired knight, Erza, the Titania.

Well, if I'm going to be sincere, I will go all the way out.

Yes, I fear Erza. Who doesn't? Just a few I guess, like Mira or Mistgun... but Natsu, Lucy, Happy, a lot of other people and me, Gray Fullbuster, fear her. It's almost like a custom.

But I will admit I don't only fear her.

Well, um, it's not something easy to say... but, do you know that feeling that grows inside you without your contentment and spreads to everywhere in your body making you blush, smile, feel nervous and get excited, along with a lot of other stuff? Yes, that thing you are thinking about. No, buddy! I can't say it out loud nor can I write it in my sane mind state!... Yeah, I know I'm an idiot, but maybe it comes by the hand of being an ice mage. I prefer keeping things cool... but, yeah, Erza is a special case.

I wish Leon is having the same problems to say or write his feelings as I am because if he isn't, having been brought up with me by the same person, then life really is unfair. I won't forgive him.

Come on, Gray, keep it cool...

The thing is I lo-... Erza... but I can't say it. So lately I have been trying wth indirect tactics. But I don't think Erza understood why I brought her her favorite cheesecake two days ago without her asking or why someone left flowers on her door the other day (that someone being me) or why I always stare at her, this one probably being too usual for her to catch the hidden motive as I stare at her everyday without even noticing. I even tried adding a smile when she turns but she just stops for a moment and turns around again.

Really, and now she comes and says we have to talk. I assure you, when Erza calls you out to talk, specially if it's in private, it's never good and nobody will be surprised if you come back with a blue bruise in the middle of your face. You can always count on Natsu to laugh and earn some punches himself though, so it isn't so lonely most of the times.

But you know? I don't recall having done anything worth of Erza scolding me. Well, I did break some things lately but it's same old, same old. She would have punched me in the guild if it was about that.

Ah, damn, Erza has such a nice body... but not only that, the way she walks... even to someone who doesn't know her, she will instantly seem like a strong woman, the kind of woman you better not mess around with. Maybe that's why I can't tell her how I fell about her, but that's also one of the things that make me respect her and follow her in battle to fight side by side. And if a good, serious relationship isn't build from respect to last, then I don't know anything. This is something I'm sure about. In my heart, the first step to like... someone... is respecting that person, 'cause that's how you start seing all the things that make you... like her.

They say when you're in love you tend to ignore the bad things about your partner... or wanna-be partner. And maybe it's true. But I think I know Erza's weak points enough to try being in a relationship with her, hand in hand.

I wish I were the strengh she needs when she feels hurt...

I still feel I'm not good enough to stand by her side though. I'm no match for her in battle. But I want to always be there when she needs it. I want to stay by her side, always.

I think that counts, right?

...

"Okay Erza, what did you bring me here for?" Gray asked, nervous inside but trying hard to hide it.

The Titania was looking straight at him, scrutinizing him so openly anybody could see it.

She then took two steps forward, too close for Gray's confort if it wasn't during battle, and put a hand on the guy's shoulder. Her face relaxed a bit and let show her worries.

"Gray, is something the matter?" she asked.

Of course Gray knew how Erza always worries and observes her companions and friends to make sure they are alright, but he was still taken aback by her tone and comprehensive attitude.

Even so, there was nothing much happening to him more than the fact that he couldn't confess his feelings to her and it was driving him just a bit crazy, but as we said, he can't say it so it's futile to ask.

"Nothing, Erza," he responded after some seconds, but the red-head furrowed her eyebrows and put her left hand on his other shoulder and brought their faces closer to stare at him.

"I'm not stupid enough to ignore the fact that you have been acting strange lately, as if every time you smile you are thinking, in the back of your mind, of something that keeps bothering you. If you consider us friends, I expect you to tell me what's wrong this instant," the woman stated firmly without letting go.

Something clicked in Gray's head and he couldn't stop glancing back and forth between Erza's eyes and her lips. He thought he was about to kiss her if that went on any longer. His heart was pounding so much that if any of us had thought (as he did) that some pieces of ice were sticked to it and kept him cool most of the time, then, right then, they were being melted with max speed.

And guess what? That moment went on.

And, yes, I believe you are already guessing what happened.

It was such a brief touch between their lips that it almost felt like it never happened. But it did. And they both knew it.

Gray diverted his gaze immediately after that and blushed, not able to stop it, and Erza didn't move a milimeter for some long seconds.

What had just happened?

Kiss.

That was such a foreign word in her vocabulary, such a left out topic, and to have to use it seemed so strange.

They kissed.

They kissed?

Wait, it wasn't like that, more like Gray kissed her. Gray? Why did he do that? You kiss people when you love them, you don't kiss friends.

A confused look was starting to form on Erza's face and Gray glaced at her just in time to see it in process so he knew he had to somehow fix this and he had to somehow... say those words.

"Erza, wait, I know you are confused but would you let go so I can explain?" Gray started, feeling the closeness wasn't going to do him any good as it hadn't done any up 'till then. But Erza, although she came back to reality slightly moving her eyes in between Gray's, didn't let go of him and waited for answers. "Oh... okay..." the boy said then.

'_It's not the perfect case scenario but it's fine.'_

"You said something was wrong with me later, right? Well, it's this. Sorry Erza, I'm not being able to control myself lately and I don't think too straight..." there was a pause as he too stared in her eyes. "I can't stop thinking about you... 'kay?" he finally said. They weren't those three imposible words, but they were pretty close and Erza would probably get the message.

She opened her eyes wider and surprise could be read everywhere on her face.

"Really?" was all she could get out still not letting him go.

A big, red blush extended through Gray's face and he tried strugling out of her grasp.

"Y-yeah!" he answered meanwhile.

"Wou..." Erza let out involuntarily and immediately later she blushed too. For a second she diverted her gaze and then looked back at Gray with big, round eyes full of curiosity and Gray's too, opened wider with surprise.

So that explained it. Gray didn't see her as just a friend. He saw her as a love interest. But then again, Gray was a friend to her. Or wasn't he? It's true there were times he said the exact same things she was thinking and drove her to dedicate him her most beautiful smiles, but she didn't see him as a boyfriend, right? But he WASN'T her boyfriend. And that time two days ago when she recieved those flowers... it's true, somewhere inside her she hoped Gray had sent them...

But she wasn't quite prepared for all this.

She needed time to think about it. She wouldn't hurt one of her precious friends just to see how being in a couple was... and, couple with Gray? It seemed strange, too strange.

But he was a good guy after all. He really was. And Erza couldn't actually deny she liked to see him strip even if she shouted at him to put his clothes back on sometimes...

She couldn't just say no. She felt something different for Gray. She felt something different for him than what she felt for Natsu and they were both her male companions. But Jerald wasn't completely erased from her heart yet and she knew by experience that love isn't an easy thing but a thing that can hurt greatly...

"Erza," the guy in front of her said, calling her attention and gaining it immediately, "you don't have to give me an answer right now. I'm not ready yet either. I want to become stronger and be worth of being with you and I know this is too much of a surprise so... cool down," he smiled while saying this, thinking it was somehow funny, "take your time, I won't push you."

Erza smiled back and her eyes softened on him as well as her grasp on his shoulders.

Really... he always said what was in her mind. He could see through her so easily...

"Thank you," was all she managed to say before burying him in a sweet hug. It wasn't a lose one just because it was sweet, but neither was it too tight to bear; a temporary sign of gratitude as well as apology. An unspoken pact to definitely, definitely, definitely give him an answer.

...

They didn't know it then, but that was the first step to becoming something... more than just friends.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Natsu?" the blonde girl cuddled in between his arms called him.<p>

"Mm?" he lazily answered with his eyes closed, inmerse in her scent and presence while they hugged leaning on a rough tree that warm afternoon.

"Tell me you love me, please?" she asked slightly moving to look him in the eye; eyes that snapped open to the ridiculous request.

"What the-? No way!" he shouted embarrassed, flushing.

"Why not? I say it all the time! It's not fair!" she retorted, anger appearing in her voice to which Natsu wasn't oblivious.

"It's because I c-can't!" he almost shouted, flustered.

Lucy stared suspiciously and narrowed her eyes on him.

"Explain," she shot then in that tone that was so coming from a princess.

"Don't push me, Luce," he warned in that tone so meant to be a roar.

The blonde pouted like a little child, sad first and whimpy the next moment, crossing her arms to her chest and looking away from him with a red face. The boy sighed knowing that if he didn't clear things up then, he wouldn't have the chance to talk her into forgiving him for a long time.

"Come on, I could say 'I love you' but it's just not enough to express how I feel! And of course 'like' is even worse an option," he said, holding her waist and pulling her to the warmth of his body again.

The girl fidgetted for a moment before sighting and staying still with red cheeks.

"I still want to hear how you feel about me anyway, you know? You are not getting away from this so easily," she declared. The boy pouted and gasped to no avail, for, the princess didn't even flinch, stubborn to keep her resolution. He finally sighed and leaned back again. Lucy moved her chin upwards and looked at Natsu, wondering if she could gain what she wanted by helping him a bit?

"You could use the same phrase with the right word to describe how you feel."

Natsu stared confused, obviously saying _'you're weird'_ through his eyes. She waved his confusion and thoughts with one hand. "I mean, 'I _–bip-_ you'."

Natsu's eyes went wide and he started laughing, looking in a different direction while covering the blush in his face with his hand. Lucy stared confused and immediately furrowed her eyebrows believing (as many times before) he was making fun of her. Showing her teeth, she roughly asked for the boy's problem. '_Damn it! As if I will let him laugh at me!'_

"S-sorry Luce," the boy started, opening a gap between two of his fingers to let his mouth show while killing the laughter slowly. Intent eyes stared into hers as he continued. "It's just… that sounded completely perverted," Natsu pointed out, to which Lucy failed to react at first and then flushed embarrassed with wide eyes. She slightly (not so slightly) punched fists at Natsu's chest while crying: "it wasn't like that!" to what Natsu laughed.

Suddenly Natsu's hold on Lucy's waist became stronger and she was pulled even nearer. The fire salamander brushed his lips on her hair and ear before whispering seductively;

"Can I put '**want**' in that sentence?"

Lucy shivered and blushed and whined and, well, was kissed too and kissed back. A meaningful sentence made it's way out of the girl's mouth. "You are the perverted one, dragon child!" she said, to what Natsu grinned and responded "it's too late to protest now that my heart is all yours, Luce."

Lucy kissed him and hugged him for his sweet words until, during the hug, a hoarse laugh broke from the boy's throat and he said, "be thankful I'm not raping you" continuing to laugh.

...

"NATSU, YOU REALLY ARE A PERVERT! FIX YOUR BRAIN, DAMN IT!" Lucy shouted, stomping her way to her appartment, leaving behind her something that resembled a corps TOO much.

* * *

><p><em>Okay, so, sometimes it feels like I should say it 'cause you say it all the time and because it's so difficult I w<em>_ill try writing it down here for you. Because, you know, you're always saying how you say you love me all the time and I don't, but it's true 'I love you' aren't the right words, so I will... try another way._

_Lucy:_

_Up 'till now I haven't ever met anyone that can make me feel the same way you do. I think the fact I continued to look for you in every life I lived is proof that you are incredibly important for me. And I promise I will continue to look for you in my next life and the ones following that too... because there's nobody who can replace you and I won't let myself give up on finding you, because if it's not with you, I don't wanna love anyone. I don't need hugs or kisses if they don't come from you only. And this isn't something I'm writing and deciding on a whim nor can I fake something like this 'cause that's simply unacceptable and I wouldn't dare to hurt you more than I have already._

_(Note: thanks for explaining to me that I was the worthless moron that made you suffer of unrequited love.)_

_This statement and this feelings... are true and will always be true. I'll continue to carry them in my heart until the day I die and even after that, locking them inside me and noticing you again and again even if I don't remember you._

_That's why__ I can't say 'I love you'. I have to use more words or show it to you in different ways that make you call me a pervert. But this time I will use words:_

_I love you, I need you by my side everyday for the rest of my life and the lives that come after this one. I will never gesitate about my feelings and I will never let you go. I know if I tell you I want to marry you and can already imagine our kids you will freak out a little, but it's true and I promise I will never, ever leave you alone even if you someday decide you want to go out with somebody else and it breaks my heart in a million pieces, I will stand by your side and confort you as well as advice you and give you a shoulder to cry on whenever you need it._

_And I can sign with blood that I'm not joking._

_I wish to always be beside you, no matter what._

_I love you more than what the word 'love' can possibly cover._

_Just... never leave me._

"Ugh, There's no way I'm ever showing this to her..." the dragon slayer (now a tweenty years old young man that has been dating his only love for three years straight) blushes and messes his hair up in frustration as he once again loses his determination to make Lucy's wish, two years ago, to know how he feels about her, come true.

He let's himself fall on the couch and sighes. His eyes travel to a small box on his living room table, right in front of him, and he blushes again.

"Ow, Luce, I wish you say 'yes', please, please," he pleads, hiding his red face between his hands.

* * *

><p>The air was fresh that afternoon and the blonde woman was finally enjoying some well- earned vacations. Her last work had left her completely tired. Who said arquitecture was easy? But well, because she likes it she will let it slide.<p>

She takes one sip of the hot chocolate the waiter has brought her and feels how the warmth spreads from her mouth to her throat, making it's way to her stomach.

And then that sensation shooks her again and she stares blankly at the background.

...

_Why do I always get this sensation when I'm warm? It's more like a certainty of something. Like this isn't warm at all... compared to... to what?_

_Am I... forgetting something?_

_It__ feels like it._

_And this place. It's my first time here but there are things that... look so familiar... as if I had been here before._

_This town's name won't leave my head._

'_Magnolia'._

_What's this feeling? What am I forgetting? What am I searching for...?_

...

She turns her gaze back to the cup between her hands and lifts it to drink once more. For as long as she has lived, this feeling that she's missing something won't let her alone. And it's stronger when she thinks she is warm.

'What am I searching for?' is the question that always lives in her mind, and 'what am I forgetting?' goes by it's hand.

She opens her eyes and looks at the lake. Magnolia really is a nice place; the lake and the trees on the background make it so nice she feels calm staring at them. Even at night time, it's beautiful how the crickets are the only sound that can be heard in some streets and she isn't scared to walk around alone. One of the strongest guilds of Fiore, recognised as such since almost one hundred years ago, is here, which is called Fairy Tail, and she doesn't know why that fact seems to calm her down.

She takes another sip of her cup and suddenly sees, from the corner of her eye, something pink and the breeze carries a certain smell of ashes and trees she isn't able to let pass.

Urged by her heart and soul, her left arm shots forward and entraps a person's clothes. The man stops and turns his head her way revealing green but at the same time golden eyes. She stares for a moment, taking in his appearance along with the name of the books he carries, written by a certain female author, dead before she was born, that coincidentally she reads too. She doesn't miss to notice his salmon coloured hair, grown a bit long and in a small ponytail on the low back of his head while the hair that ins't in the strap's wrap, forms revelious locks that point everywhere.

She let's go of his clothes once they have been staring at each other for too long and blushes embarrassed to be bothering a stranger out of nowhere. But even after she releases his coat, the man doesn't walk away and she once again looks at him straight in the eyes.

Her heart and soul seem to be trying to tell her something as she just can't stop staring at this unknown man and a question comes to her mind as suddenly as she reached out to stop him.

"Do we know each other?" she asks curious.

The man's eyes widen but then he chuckles a bit while looking away. When he looks back, he smiles brightly and the woman blushes as she realises how handsome he is.

"I don't think so," is his answer and she feels something sulk inside her. It's as if she had found something important but it turned out she was mistaken.

But the man isn't finished yet.

"Maybe we knew each other in our past lives?" he asks playfully and the woman's eyes are the ones to widen this time. She stares at him for some moments and then she giggles cutely.

"As if," she snorts while laughing.

The man laughes along with her. "May I bother you by sitting down?" he asks then.

"You are no bother, please sit!" the blonde encourages him with a movement of her hand.

The young man smiles and she feels warm inside, but this time it's warmer than ever before and she doesn't get that feeling that always bugs her. "So, what's your name?" the blonde asks and the conversation goes on for a long time.

...

They once again never let go of each other as they had done in two previous lives, with one certainty to their meeting:

'I have found what I was looking for.'


End file.
